The ties that bind: finding freedom in the era of technology
by Lyndi Lawson
As the year draws to a much welcome close I, for one, am looking forward to a little freedom. And it strikes me that as technology marches forward, and the global village grows ever smaller, in the circles of computer geeks and their wannabe affiliates, the very meaning of the word ‘freedom’ has changed. Indeed, the freedom I speak of is almost enough to make some of my colleagues shudder and in a flat panic, crash with an irresolvable system error.
Heading off into the depths of the Eastern Cape, off the beaten track, I will have no cell phone reception, no access to email and most importantly, no social networking sites to check on or update every five minutes. My online life will, for the next blissful three weeks, be resting in a static state of limbo. Possibly you will text me, or drop me a friendly Christmas email. Maybe you will break up with your significant other, get engaged or have a baby. All this, and I will be languishing on a beach somewhere remote, in delicious oblivion.
While I sound heartless and unappreciative of the wonders of the modern age this is not the case at all (heck, without them, I’d be out of a job.) I am as great a fan as anyone of my cell phone, I have a special relationship with my precious laptop and I have an undeniable addiction to social networking. But a little part of my soul longs for a simpler time: when there were no invisible strings tying me to a desk in a different province; when the prospect of my server crashing didn’t fill my heart with fear and when a holiday was quite simply a holiday, uninterrupted by the trill of technology.
And so, in part to face my fears and temporarily sever the ties that bind, and in part to seek some old-world peace, I am heading out, and hoping all the while, that the world will not be very different upon my return.
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