Plugged and Unplugged

I'm not sure what I mean by that title, but I've been having random thoughts about the way I'm using the "network" -- whatever that now means. Last night I came home tired after a fairly full week of work. On the Metro train I read some in TLS, and while I waited for my condo shuttle at Van Dorn Station, I checked my email. On the shuttle, stuck in traffic, I texted my wife to let her know I'd be home later than usual. Once home, I took a walk in the humid evening (listening to a random selection of tunes on my iPod), showered, ate a light meal, then watched an episode of Midsomer Murders, one of those British imports J and I are so fond of. We're working our way through the entire series on Netflix DVDs, alternating with movies (Avatar is up next).

When that was done I picked up my laptop and surfed the web, checked email, Twitter, and so forth, while looking for something worthwhile on TV. For a few minutes I flipped back and forth between St. Elmo's Fire and The Replacements, reruns I didn't care for when they were released, and still couldn't get interested in. But The Replacements reminded me of The Commitments, which I'd just recently read about in TLS, in a review of Roddy Doyle's fiction. I remembered liking the movie (directed by Alan Parker), so I logged into Netflix and saw that it was available for instant viewing online. I clicked "play" and watched the movie version again while J read a book and watched a rerun of Miami Vice. The Commitments is not really one of my all time favorite films, but the music is very entertaining, and there are some good performances.

So what's my point? I'm not really sure, except that with the myriad diversions that are now available, almost instantaneously, it certainly is easy to get lost in all the noise. Consequently, it's really difficult to maintain focus on anything. Nearly everything I do these days seems to be random. I've never been very good at disciplining myself to accomplish anything, especially if I could find excuses to defer, delay, or delegate. Now here I am on a Saturday morning wasting more time. I've read one newspaper (sort of), but was too depressed to turn to the next, so I picked up my laptop and looked at Twitter and Facebook. (I rarely post, but I follow stuff in order to stay alert. Not sure I'd do this on my own, but I have some outside influences. Anyway, it's probably good for someone my age to keep up with some of this stuff.)

When I finished doing all this, it occurred to me how random things had become, not only this morning, but quite a lot lately. On the one hand, I'm "plugged in," meaning in this case I'm online, which I am virtually every waking hour now that I have my Android phone. In effect, I'm never without Internet access. From my phone, which is in effect a tiny networked computer, I can check my email or the latest results from the French Open, or Twitter, or Facebook, or blog, or even watch something on YouTube. So anywhere, anytime, I can get access. And I choose both the medium and the message. I get only what I want, what I'm interested in. I filter it all. If I'm not interested, I go on to the next node, the next feed. I can choose to stay connected, or connected to what interests me. I can ignore everything else. So in that sense while I'm always plugged in, I'm also pretty much unplugged. Amidst all the noise, I can filter out most of it, stick my ear buds in my ears, and just listen to my own self-selected play list. I'm both plugged and unplugged.

This afternoon I think I'll really unplug and read a book.