DISCONNECTED

If you are anything like me, you are reading this post with no less than 5 other tabs open, iTunes running in the background, your cellphone close at hand, and at least three thousand other things running through your head. If, SOMEHOW, you are sitting at your computer with only this post in front of you and all of your mental energies focused on reading these words, first of all, WOW and secondly, congratulations - you are a rare breed. Teach me your ways Obi-Won, I would like to learn from you and your ability to focus on one thing at a time. The Force really must be with you.

This past weekend I went out of town with my husband and some friends. Four hours into our journey, my iPhone died and I realized I had left my charger at work. I had also forgone the option to bring my laptop since I knew we would be out on the town most of the time. I inadvertently became disconnected from technology. I relied heavily on my husband to navigate us around town with his phone, but other than that slight connection-by-association, I didn't touch a single technological device. And I have to admit, it felt good.

You see, I am a serial multitasker. At this very moment, I have 14 tabs open in Firefox (Gmail, Facebook, Google Reader, House Party, a friend's Facebook photos, Google Calendar, iStockphoto, Yahoo Travel, Bing Travel, free fonts, Bing Images, and this Blogger window), iTunes in playing, Photoshop is open (with four photos to edit), iPhoto is open with 20 or so events to sort through, and there are 8 Stickies on my desktop with various lists of things to get done. My iPhone has several red highlights on my To-Do list, unread emails and one voicemail to reply back to, and off to my right is a stack of magazines that needs to be dealt with.

All of these things really aren't bad or potentially dangerous to my mental focus. However, as a multitasker, each of these things is taking a tiny piece of my mental energy. Meaning that the activity I am doing right now (writing this post) is not receiving 100% of my focus. Which means that the result is not going to be as full or as successful as it could be if I focused only on the task at hand.

So lets close all those other tabs and programs for a few minutes.

And turn off the music.

And turn off the iPhone screen.

Lets also clear my desk of everything but my computer (and crafty storage bins that have nowhere else to go).

I'll even close the office door -- and put the furkids out in the hall.

Wow.

I just got my own attention.

This feels good.

Does this resound with you? Does anyone out there also struggle with a lack of ability to focus on one thing at a time?

I truly believe this is a sickness is our society. We are constantly bombarded by a million forms of media and communication. My cellphone actually ENCOURAGES me to multitask, because with an iPhone I can talk to my parents, take still photos or videos of our furkids, then post them to Facebook and Tweet about how cute they are ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!! IN LESS THAN 3 MINUTES! ISN'T IT WONDERFUL!!!

It may seem like multitasking is efficient because you are essentially getting 10 things done in the time that you could do one, but it really is anything but effiecient. Those ten things suffer, and are not completed to their (or your) fullest potential. We as a culture, are running on warp speed. We complain when our internet is slow. That's right, COMPLAIN...when our INTERNET is......SLOW. Seriously, people, my grandma didn't even have a TV for most of her life and she turned out okay.

Today, I encourage you to turn down the "stuff" and find one thing to focus on. Give yourself 15 minutes, and 100% of your mental energies to finish a project, stretch your body, walk your dog, or simply gaze out a window.