Two days a week I have coffee with a friend as our local Starbucks opens. We give up a little sleep and morning quiet time to connect with each other and share thoughts on any number of things. As I sat down this morning with my coffee, I was waiting for my friend to get his from the counter. Since I was sitting alone at the table, I started to reach for my phone so I could scroll through social media and email while I waited. I stopped myself before I could pull my phone out as I realized I was only looking to kill two minutes before he sat down. That’s right—it was a two minute wait I had to endure and I was looking for a way to escape sitting still.
Technology can be an incredibly useful tool, but it has also become our most common method of escapism. We avoid the people around us in public places by staring at our phones, ignore our families by scrolling through social media, and neglect the moments of potential quiet thought while waiting for the rest of our life to keep moving. It’s not just a fascination with the world around us, but it has become a way for us to practice escapism. We can focus on the details of everything except for the simple realism of the moment right in front of us.
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