Disconnecting to get connected

April is such a wonderful time of year: an abundance of colour as Spring takes a firm hold, the evenings stretching a few minutes more every day and the sun bringing some warmth as well as light. It’s a time for change in a very good way!

That being said I experienced something today that has really got me thinking - especially as it happened three times in the space of an hour! The first time it was lucky nobody got hurt. The next two times I kinda had a sense that something might happen unless I took evasive action, so I did!

What on earth am I talking about? 

I'm talking about a smart phone/mobile phone 'distracted near miss'. It happens like this - you are walking along a street, in a park, out shopping; generally anywhere people meet and then you see it: a person walking quite rapidly, unfortunately heading straight in your direction; with their right or left hand held about chest-high, and perched on their outstretched hand is their phone. And that phone is receiving all their attention. By the time you realise this it can sometimes be almost too late to avoid contact with a phone being almost thrust into your face or abdomen or some other part of your anatomy in between. The awkward, brief conversation that ensues usually has you, the injured party saying 'sorry' - for what, exactly? - while the single minded phone user becomes quite agitated and speaks rapidly. For a split second you believe it's an apology being issued to you...but then you realise he's still at his meeting and has just explained that people 'are so rude and won't move out of the way'.

Now before I become even more sanctimonious, let me say that I have been that wayward phone user and have knocked more than my fair share of people off course...well flip it, some people just won't move out of the way!

I have to say, though, today's incidents really made me think. We are all getting connected with faster and faster download speeds. Broadband roll-out is a political hot potato. Smart phones are now so smart they can connect us rapidly, facilitated by apps such as 'face recognition'.

But are we truly connecting ourselves? What price are we paying for those faster and faster download speeds? I am not a Luddite, I really need my connected, powered-up smart phone! But what on earth am I doing when I find myself parading through the street holding my phone out in front of me as fellow earth-dwellers rush by, or maybe I crash into one or two of them because of my distraction?

And there it is really. Distraction. I've become distracted from what's going on around me, the more connected to the Internet I've become. The very thing I need for just about everything I do is making me miss everything I cherish about the place we all call home. How could I let myself miss anything at this time of the year? The most amazing and beautiful blossoms that are exclusive to Springtime? The leaves bursting forth from trees in a kaleidoscope of different shades of green! The lengthening days and the dappled sunlight in the wonderful long stretch in the evenings (thank God!). It's all around us, there to be seen for free, changing most imaginatively on a daily basis. We don't need our smart, or indeed our not so smart, phones to show us the beauty all around us, just waiting for us to acknowledge it, to marvel at it, to simply just let it sink in.

It doesn't have to be that the more rapidly our technological advances connect us, the more disconnected we become from the beauty all around us and within us. It doesn't have to be that a walk in the Park becomes a health hazard as we chase faster and faster broadband speeds. And it really doesn't have to be that the most increasingly popular way to meet someone is to, well, almost walk through them.

So tomorrow I'm going to go for a walk. I'm going to leave my phone at home! I'm going to look around me, look left and look right. I'm going to look for those colours I've mentioned above. The sun may not be shining but it'll still be bright at almost 9pm. Tomorrow I'm gonna disconnect so that I can get connected again. This planet is all we have and I kinda like the idea of getting familiar with the beauty it brings us everyday - we just have to look at it to see it! You know what - I think seeing nature for teal beats any mega-pixel photo montage any day!