The Speed of Life
Just “yesterday” we were halfway through the year, and now it’s less than five months until Christmas, and despite being in the middle of summer, it’s back to school time in East Tennessee. How is it possible I have two grandchildren in middle school? It seems only yesterday...
Time moves faster as we age.
Fifty years ago, I was starting my senior year of high school and the world was at a turning point for the Information Age. My home phone was rotary dial, and my music came from record albums or from 96 Rock, an FM radio station, which my Atlanta friends may recall going on air the previous year. My camera used film, and I still mailed physical cards and letters, but within ten years, digital technology changed all of that.
The television of my teenage years had four channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, and Channel 17 (later TNT). While I never needed the 1700+ channels of cable TV of later years, even that is obsolete now with streaming services.
The rapidity with which technology changes and become obsolete is a common frustration among senior adults. Being of a generation old enough to remember the implementation of zip codes, area codes, bar codes, and secret passwords, it’s no wonder we feel a nostalgia for simpler times.
Life certainly was different in 1975. In some ways, it was better. Had I looked back in time as a senior in high school, as I’m doing now as a senior adult, I’d have been looking at a time before the Great Depression, a time before electric lights, indoor plumbing, or automobiles were common in rural Tennessee. A time when radio was cutting-edge technology, the industrial age was fueled by coal and oil, and penicillin was discovered.
Some might argue that we’re better off with all the technology and social media, and while acknowledge that there are many benefits, I agree with today’s young adults who are realizing that there needs to be a work/life balance. IRL doesn’t need to remain an acronym. We need to exist In Real Life. Unplug every once in a while. Spend some intentional time in nature.
Have a face to face conversation with friends, family, or strangers, or simply take a walk. The benefits of stepping away are mental, physical, and social.
Life, as a wise neighbor once told me, is for the living. Miss Betty meant that to be understood two ways: Life exists for those who breathe; Life is meant to be lived with purpose and intention.
Live life, don’t just tweet about it.