Digital Downtime
JWT just published their annual “What to Watch for” deck, and I was uniquely intrigued by a trend I noticed throughout: digital downtime. The ever-increasing technological presence in our day-to-day lives is actually starting to freak me out a bit. I’m the one that complains about the fact that none of us can keep our faces out of our smart phones – yet I was checking my e-mail while my two-year-old played in the bath last night. WHAT???
As I’m reading a book to that same toddler that same night, he’s asking me “Daddy, what’re they doing?” and pointing to every picture. On one illustration, there were two people talking, and he answered his own question: “oh, they’re checking their e-mail.” Well, crap.
I’m already worried for me and what having a monitor in my face throughout the day is doing to my creativity and even productivity. You better believe that kid is going to be asking me for an iPhone by the time he hits Kindergarten.
And I have no solution. None. It’s the way the world is going, and if I want to rebel against it, I’ll end up living in the woods somewhere. Clients and co-workers expect accessibility 24/7. Again, it’s the world we’re in, and I’ve adapted to it (and sometimes even thrived in it), but it doesn’t erase my concern for my kids not having an imagination by the time they hit their teenage years. If JWT is right, we may start taking care of this ourselves, universally recognizing the need to disconnect for the sake of our creativity and the health of our close relationships.
Is this something we could apply to our business cultures, or is it simply an individual discipline? Do you even agree with the need for it?
