I’m not really in Denmark, though I really wish I were! But some years back, I dragged my kids through some of their Scandinavian root grounds (+ fun touristy kid areas), for several weeks around the Solstice. Here, a witch (not a real one) burns on a beach as part of a midsummer celebration called Sankt Hans Aften.
This ritual dates back hundreds of years—like so many things in Denmark—and has many histories, symbolisms, and even controversies attached to it. From my POV, it was a glorious, mysterious evening with beautiful people, sentimental singing, tasty beer, and midnight light. My celebration this year will be less fiery, and probably rainy to boot. : (
Today we proudly launch a new category, Wily Mktg, to merge the professional pursuits of the Wily Wordsmith and Marketing Consultant with the free-your-time promise of BreakAway. They overlap swimmingly. And my career advisors tell me I should write more about my craft. A new book promoting “doing nothing” provides the perfect starting point.
That book is Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, and it prescribes the medicine we all need right about now.
Monetizing the masses
One of my favorite hobby-treats is attending live music. LIVE music. As in, real artists on stage + real people in the audience + all the exciting sideshows that make for the consummate concert experience. Lately, the ultimate sign of audience approval is when people stand up and hold their phones to the show. Recording? Maybe But it feels like something bigger. And sorta surreal.
This ritual happens everywhere, actually—from pro sports events to elementary music concerts. Participating in the present is becoming less important than engagement through your gadgets.
This is one of the themes of a Ms. Odell’s book. She takes a rather deep dive into the political, spiritual, and moral implications of our relatively new fixation—but moreso emphasizes the oft-ignored reality that these beasts have masterfully monetized our attention for the profit of (what are suddenly) the largest corporations in the world. And, by association and with boundless budgets, their advertisers.
Where did all the tribes go?
I vividly remember the early days of this technological revolution. While overwhelming, the magnetism of suddenly connecting with people who are also into, say, Kate Bush or rising minor-leaguers made communities and minds and explode. We created and joined “tribes.” “Movements” aiming to change the world sprang up like wild ferns in spring. That’s still around, but buried.
Meanwhile, we have gradually become living, breathing algorithms that allow corporations to do target-marketing with scary precision. We may not like the idea—or we may buy right into it—but Odell asserts that we’re losing our attention span and ability to understand context. We know only, and live only for, the present. The meaning of that “message” on the phone is vague, yet becomes how we perceive and experience the present. Over time, we become addicted to the stimuli and lose touch with the real world around us.
Meanwhile, we become evermore under the control of Big Brothers like Google, Facebook, and Amazon who know more about us than we’ll ever know, keep us increasingly linked, and transform this circle of attention-connection into billions.
The solution: Nothing
Ms. Odell suggests an intentional effort to disconnect, or at least walk way from, your devices: “To stand apart is to take the view of the outsider without leaving…It means not fleeing your enemy, but knowing your enemy, which turns out not to be the world…but the channels through which you encounter it day to day.”
The BreakAway premise holds that fleeing is not only fantastic fun, but spiritually transformative. And whether you use your break time to see the world or do nothing are both brilliant ideas.
With any luck, there will be time for both. And freedom means not only taking your time, but also keeping Big Brother at a distance.
Nature is great, right? Hmmmm… When my daughter knocked on one of my birdhouses recently, this creature emerged. A sibling remained inside, thank God.
They’re baby flying squirrels—something you rarely see around here. Nocturnal by nature, they use those big eyes to, well, freak me out! I don’t know why they were in the birdhouse, although they do fly (glide, really, or so I’m told). I just hope they stay away—maybe go hang out with the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz or something.
Graduation brings much excitement, emotion, and exhaustion. That’s why I ducked in to Princeton University Chapel a few days ago—after events had ended and people were disappearing.
I found the silence and reflection I was looking for, in addition to these lovely orange-centric flowers saluting the college colors. My son is now done there, and I am filled with gratitude for his world-class education and experience. And yet, I will miss that place. He’ll miss it more, as college provides the ultimate BreakAway for youth coming of age.
When it comes to sunsets, everyone’s an excellent photographer—because sundowns are so awesome, at least when the clouds cooperate. Sunrises can be equally lovely. But most of us aren’t floating on a boat with friends sipping a cocktail at that hour.
Wildfires from Canada are again sending smoke to Minnesota that makes for hazy skies, but stunning sunsets. We’re all busy: I know. But please stop and watch one of our planets most magical moments when you can. It’s free. And you’ll feel better about whatever’s bugging you.
I’ve been travelling a lot lately, which both delivers the promise of one of this site’s charters and keeps me trained for the rigors of rambling. In the last five weeks, I’ve done long weekends in Kansas City, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Okoboji (IA). Expect reports from the fields and beaches soon…
Meantime, this shot happened during sundown from a deck in Okoboji, a beloved getaway of mine since childhood. Obviously, the dock crews work harder than vacationers know. Here, hundreds of docks and lifts await their annual migration back to the lake, in a twisted and noisy dance not unlike the spring rituals of the birds and animals hiding all around.
Soon, the weather (and water) will warm up, the vacationers will barge in by the thousands, and summer will spring into hot action. Then the season will fade away, like a beautiful but too-brief sunset. Summer is short. Step out and find your warm comfort zone before fall and the chilled docks come cashing ashore again!
BreakAways in the News remains a full-time job for several part-time interns. And we are pleased with the latest highlights—all of which confirm that those of us preaching the gospel of balance may be crazy, but we are right. And smart!
Land of the tense, home of the crazed
NYT and a gazillion other media outlets reported the not-fake news that Americans are whack (do people still say that?). Yep. Not only are we Great Again, but we are also at the top of the heap of categories like: the most stressed; the most worried; the most angry. These findings come courtesy of Gallup’s annual poll of 150,000 people worldwide.
Lest we cry alone in our celebration beer, other nations’ peoples are also having some bad days. Anger, sadness, and worry reached all-time worldwide highs, making 2018 the darkest year for humanoids in a decade. There are bright spots, though, like Latin America. They bask in not only sunshine, but also some of the highest numbers for positive experiences and other metrics—despite problems like murder, poverty, and corruption.
Career break in Ecuador, anyone?
WHO screams, “Put that device down, kids!!!”
Parents, take note. The World Health Organization recently joined a long list of smart institutions stating that children have got to stop playing with their digitalia. Specifically, kids under 1 should NEVER do videos, games, and online stuff. And children 2-4 best do no more than an hour a day. WashPost and pretty much all surviving, credible media took note.
Experts cite some serious risks: Kids may impair development of interaction and social (not to be confused with social media) skills; brain development may blortz; and creativity (and learning) may feel like an outsource-able, rather than personal, pursuit.
Though many of us barely remember life before device devotion, these phenomena are new enough that research is still, uh, young. That said, the findings clearly conclude that development, exercise, sleep, and much more are at risk for families everywhere. So stop reading this story and go play in your sandbox!
Hey, Geezers: We need you!
First of all, we’ve got to stop using lingo like geezer, fogey, and old farts. Why? Because we need those folks to work, not nap, what with unemployment hitting a 50-year low of 3.6% yesterday. And we are also in (what BreakAway believes) is a reboot boom of Baby Boomers (and beyond) rising new levels of accomplishment, innovation, and creativity.
Today’s WSJ features an essay by Rich Karlgaard, author of the recent Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed by Early Achievement.” Mr. Karlgaard explains that brains and skills develop throughout a lifetime—and that many people peak in potential and output in later life, not just in the roaring 20s. “Precocious achievement is the exception, not the norm,” he writes, “The fact is, we mature and develop at different rates.”
Mr. Karlgaard uses neurology and numbers to make his case, and asserts that creativity (among other talents) actually increase with age. And that idea that young people can perform most tasks and challenges better than folks with more maturity? Balderdash! So Gatsby was wrong, not Great, when he stated, “There are no second acts in American lives.”
BreakAway promotes the power of music—to wash away your worries, to touch the spirits, and for daily entertainment. Live music offers one of the finest pleasures on the planet. Which is one more reason to warm up in Mexico; authentic music happens everywhere there—like this troubadour busking for spare change on the malecon in Mazatlan.
If you’re traveling with children, their eyes will pop when a brassy mariachi band blasts over the dinner table. On the romantic side, nylon-string guitarists serenade and soothe diners and sweethearts. But my favorite memory? A wandering trio harmonizing Guantanamera with 3 sizes of guitars, tableside, on a candle-lit beach at (what is now) the charming Petit Lafitte resort near Playa del Carmen.
Whenever I hear that song, my mind goes back to that sublime scene. Music makes memories…the most precious thing in life.
When spring finally arrives in the Great Cold North, people hit the water. It’s okay to be late for supper, church, or that FOTOFRIDAY blog post. Just BreakAway outside and ride the warm wave.
