Let’s face it, whether we like or not, we live in a wired world. Or should I say wireless? Not sure about you but when my computer is on the fritz, or the cable goes out—I know who even uses cable anymore?—or if I don’t have enough bars to make the call let alone check the internet, I get discombobulated.

God forbid any of this should happen before I had my morning coffee, yet another form of wired indigenous to our culture.

We are at best dependent on our technology; at worst addicted. Our techno gizmos, gadgets and games are ubiquitous. Not that this is a bad thing. Change is the only constant and without progress we become stagnate as an individual, a culture, a society.

We want it all and we want it all now and at our fingertips and the press of button. Or icon. And if we don’t get it all immediately then we tend to get angry and perturbed.

Like it or not, fact is instant gratification and over-stimulation is the new norm. Our world, our culture as a whole, suffers from OCD and ADD. And I am pretty sure that Ritalin or Adderall is not gonna fix it. But it’s not just the kids. It’s all of us. We all want that latest craze, be it the hot new game, or the hot new feature for our hot new car. We wait in lines so we can be among the first to purchase it, knowing that in a few months or a year it will be obsolete and replaced by the new hot commodity or upgrade.

This is just how life in the 21^st century is and I def do not see it ever regressing to our pre-technology days and ways.  But at what cost to us? We skip the personal one-on-one interaction with our friends at the local coffee shop and instead send a text. Many classes are now taken via virtual classrooms. Instead of frequenting the local mom and pop shop we head online where with a web search and a few clicks of the mouse anything we need can be delivered directly to us.

Technology aids us in our research, in the medical professions, in our schools, our jobs, even our homes. It is a boon to our world. Yes. But as with any boon, there is always the flipside; the bane being technology spirals many of us  into a wired yet isolated world.

But fact is, too much of any one thing is unhealthy. Ever try to eat an entire cake in one sitting? I did once as a child. To this day I detest yellow cake with chocolate icing. And yet at times I find myself doing the same exact thing with technology. I just can’t seem o get enough. We all do it. We love our technology. We devour it relentlessly. And our appetites are insatiable.

Posing the question, does this constant craving, our hunger, our dependency, on technology negatively affect our spirits? If so, how do we find nourishment for our souls? How do we recharge our spiritual batteries?  I am pretty sure we can’t call Tech Support. And if we did, we would most likely get a bot on the other end.

Posing the question—has our dependency on technology thwarted our humanity? If so, what do we do? How do we get it back? How do we find and maintain balance?

 Easy. We simplify and get back down to the basics:

1. Breathe—slow down and meditate even if only for 15 minutes.
2. Unplug—pick one hour per day and shut it down. No TV, no computer, no iPhone; no tech.
3. Listen—to the sound of falling water, or the wind blowing or best of all to a loved one’s words.
4. Journal—pen to paper, stream of consciousness. Just write whatever you feel.
5.  Move—not your address but your body. Take a walk. Go to the gym. Dance. Just get up off your butt and away from the computer and do something.
6. Touch The Earth—garden, go to the beach, the mountains, the rivers and the lakes or whatever is nearest you and connect with nature.
7. Connect— with others via a real conversation.
8. Volunteer.
9. Observe The Stars—gain perspective of the vastness of it all.
10. Laugh—see the humor, irony and joy in life