Will we ever be alone with our thoughts again?

For the last few weeks, I have been heads-down reading a book I had abandoned half way through a few years back. A classic in its field, the book is called Diffusion of Innovations, a book that I think I came across through a citation in the more popular Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I am glad I picked up the book and more importantly, was able to finally finish reading it! I gained some very interesting insights which I hope to share with you in the upcoming posts.

In the meanwhile, as part of my daily browsing ritual, I came across this interesting article in Gizmodo. Needless to say, the picture was a huge incentive for me to click through the article although it had very little to do with the post itself (clever marketing ploy, I must admit!) What kept me reading through the article however, like any movie with a flashy promotion, the content itself, which resonated strongly with me.

Back in the days when technology was a luxury rather than part of life, I used to spend (and probably so did you) generally daydreaming or just plain lost in thoughts. Some of my fond memories of childhood involved creating stuff out of clay with my cousin, inventing new games, or just lying down under the shade of a tree for hours. However, of late, my every spare minute is mostly consumed with checking Facebook, Blackberry, or browsing aimlessly though I know that there is nothing to check and there is no new message that is life-threatening.

While I don't think I have degraded to the extremes mentioned in the article, I have been guilty of sneaking a glance at my Blackberry while at a signal, walking from the car to the store, or checking for messages that are not there when the person I am with is on another call or simply stepped out for a minute.

As much as the new age of connectivity is trying to bring people together, I think it is also prying us apart from our inner thoughts, which I don't think is a good thing. As Elizabeth Gilbert said in her TED talk, sometimes inspiration comes in waves and to me it's many times when you are lost in thought or even just alone. By letting the waves pass us by because we are already consumed with the Pavlovian pings of the Blackberry, I think we lose golden opportunities to get innovative and get in touch with ourselves and wonder if we, or our future generations will slowly start losing this process of thinking long term and instead get lost in the then and the now.

While I can hear my wife saying "I told you so" behind my back, I think it is important to take some time out and just be lost in our thoughts so that we can find ourselves once again.

In the end, I want to leave you with one image from my favorite artist, that sums up the feeling.