A recent NY Times Op-Ed piece by Diane Ackerman titled “Are We Living in Sensory Overload or Sensory Poverty?” caught my attention when it surfaced on one of the blogs I track. I know I complain daily about the amount of information sent my way via various outlets, from blogs to TV to email to tweets… well, YOU know. That’s because IT lives in one of the most increasingly-complex and sensory overloaded environments possible.
Diane’s blog post paints a beautiful picture of a spring morning in upstate New York:
… one so cold the ground squeaked loudly underfoot as sharp-finned ice crystals rubbed together. The trees looked like gloved hands, fingers frozen open. A crow veered overhead, then landed. As snow flurries began, it leapt into the air, wings aslant, catching the flakes to drink. Or maybe just for fun, since crows can be mighty playful.
Diane goes on to write, “Another life form curved into sight down the street: a girl laughing down at her gloveless fingers which were texting on some hand-held device.” Now there’s a writer who can paint a picture!
And what a picture it is: The splendor of nature all around being consummately ignored because of an obsession with a device.
