Kendall’s Korner (Issue #2)
The first thing I do every morning is check my phone. I turn off the blaring “Sleepyhead” alarm at 5:30 AM, read through new texts, refresh my email, glance at the Instagram home page and scroll through my Facebook news feed. I’m so hyper-connected to everything—whether it’s through my iPhone or my laptop, I am always available.
Two weekends ago, I traveled to Austin, Texas, for its annual Austin City Limits music festival. The three-day event featured artists from around the world. I listened to South Africa sensation Die Antwoord, and then walked over and sat through the Denver based Lumineers show. It was an amazing three days. Perhaps the hardest thing for me to do, however, was unplug myself.
Zilker Park hosts 75,000 people at the event every year. With so many people, there is no reception. In consequence, I was just as unplugged as the acoustic guitar of Ben Howard. Unable to reach my cousin via text at the festival, I had to plan out everything: in the event of an emergency, we would meet at this spot at this time. If we wanted to go see different acts, we would plan to meet behind a certain stage right after. Even if we wanted to walk to different food vendors, we would plan to meet at the tables next to this tent.
To be completely honest, this was a new experience for me. It was weird giving up communication I normally take for granted. But on that same note, it was so unbelievably rewarding. I loved not feeling obligated to respond to someone. I didn’t feel guilty ignoring my mom’s incessant texts because I wasn’t receiving them. And I had a different kind of revelation: I was more in tune with myself and my surroundings than ever before.
It’s easy for us to get caught up in scheduling. What we’re doing this weekend, where we’re going to eat tomorrow, what time we’re going to the library. Maybe it’s time we start living in the present moment. I’m extremely guilty of this—I’m always thinking about the future. But I boarded my flight back to Los Angeles with a relief I haven’t felt in years. I didn’t have an ounce of stress. It was the first time in a long time I can say I felt truly content.
I credit this feeling to my “unplugged” weekend. The digital world is overwhelming. New technology appears on a weekly basis. This technology is meant to increase fluidity; instead, it acts as a hindrance. A head bowed at the dinner table with a phone under the table, dark theaters lit up by the movie-going texter, the obnoxiously loud phone conversation next to you at the airport—these interruptions affect everyone. Maybe giving them up for a little while isn’t such a bad thing. It could end up bringing us all a little closer.
