Switching it up

Recently a colleague of mine tweeted a link to a newspaper article supposedly printed in 1911. The article featured a number of experts projecting what they thought 2011 would bring.

Some of their assertions were pretty bang on. Some—like the notion that mosquitoes would no longer exist—not so much. Too bad.

It got me thinking. About the future. I know it’s 2012 and the Mayans say I should live in the here and now but I did spend a moment thinking about what the future will bring.

I didn’t want to kill too many brain cells so I stopped at this one: no off buttons for electronics.

I personally have a mini panic attack when I think for a moment I’ve left my cell phone/iPod/insert electronic gadget here at home. I’m pretty good (touch wood) at keeping track of my belongings so it’s quickly followed by a great sense of relief when I remember I just put it in a different pocket than usual.

I rarely turn my cell phone off. That moment of peace and serenity is reserved for traveling when I don’t want to incur roaming charges. Typically switching that off button is quickly followed by an itching to get to the nearest computer to check my email. Scour Facebook. Update my fantasy hockey team’s roster. You know, all that really important stuff.

I think we won’t even have to wait 100 years to see the disappearance of the off switch. Rather than an off switch there will be standby. At the ready. Seems so much more fitting. Energy conservation will be greatly improved and we’ll never have to feel that anxiety of being fully ‘out of touch’.

Heretics like my dad, who insist on not being cell phone laden, will be a distant memory captured in 300 pixel images. Off and on will be reserved for things like faucets and washing machines. And even then it won’t be like now. Touching a faucet handle will be viewed as loathsome as licking a toilet seat. All those germs? So 2012. A wave of the hand. A voice command. Whatever it is, the off/on switch as we know it will be completely different. Or at least that’s what I think.

Maybe I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. Won’t be the last.

Electronics won’t have off switches but we still will. At least I hope so. Sure we’re all about maximizing every minute of the day—fitting more and more tasks into an impossibly crammed day. Day after day. But the need to rejuvenate won’t be replaced by gadgets or gizmos.

In bygone eras when people had to actually labor for food, shelter and other basic needs, there was still a time for down time. There was still a time to turn the work mode off.

I imagine days were pretty routine. Wake with the sun. Work through the day. Eat at the same time each day. Retire at dusk. Rinse and repeat.

Now things aren’t necessarily so routine. The challenge is knowing when to turn off. And when to turn back on. I’ll be the first to admit, some days I don’t feel like I’ve hit my on switch. Whether it’s emotional, mental, physical or spiritual—sometimes I feel a little off. It’s a work in progress. I fool myself into believing some people are always on. But I don’t think that’s the case. We all turn off sometimes. We just have to make sure we turn back on.