Tweet Less, Kiss More......

Why do we have to check our e-mail
so many times a day, or keep our
ears constantly attached to our
cellphones? When you watch the
news on cable television, there are
often additional stories being
scrolled across the bottom of the
screen, stock market results blinking
on the right of the screen, and
promos for upcoming features on
the left. These extras often block
significant parts of the main item
we're supposed to be watching.
Enough already with this
hyperactive behaviour, this techno-
tyranny and non-stop freneticism.
We need to slow down and take a
deep breath.

I'm not opposed to the remarkable
technological advances of the past
several years. I don't want to go
back to typewriters and carbon
paper and yellowing clips from the
newspaper morgue. I just think that
we should treat technology like any
other tool. We should control it,
bending it to our human purposes.

Let's put down at least some of
these gadgets and spend a little
time just being ourselves. One of the
essential problems of our society is
that we have a tendency, amid all
the craziness that surrounds us, to
lose sight of what is truly human in
ourselves, and that includes our own
individual needs those very special,
mostly non-material things that
would fulfil us, give meaning to our
lives, enlarge us, and enable us to
more easily embrace those around
us.

We need to reduce the speed limits
of our lives. We need to savour the
trip. Leave the cellphone at home
every once in a while. Try kissing
more and tweeting less. And stop
talking so much.

Listen.

Other people have something to say,
too. And when they don't, that
glorious silence that you hear will
have more to say to you than you
ever imagined. That is when you will
begin to hear your song.

That's when your best thoughts take hold, and
you become really you.