From "A Minute Of Margin"

Speaking of Community......Perhaps our techno world is anti-community?

Loneliness, Boredom, Stress, and The Media

In the years ahead we will live increasingly in fictions. We will turn on our virtual-reality systems and lie back, experiencing heavenly pleasures of sight and sound in a snug electronic nest. The real world will almost be totally blotted out from our experience.
A quote from "World Future Society"

Life is meant to be participatory and relational. In the past life was "experience rich" but "stimulus poor". Today that ratio has reversed, and much of this trend is due to the pervasive presence of media in our current environment , it is easy to lapse into a media saturated existence. When lonely, or boredom stressed, the first thing we often do is activate our media surroundings,which usually means turning on the television. In a previous era we would have perhaps have visited a friend.

This is not to say that all such media usage for loneliness is inappropriate. But if over used, it will result in more isolation, not less.It is therefore wise to guard against media constituting our only barrier to loneliness.

Loneliness and boredom are often traveling partners. While loneliness can motivate to move toward community,boredom can motivate us toward creativity.

We should not fear boredom as we do, it can be useful. If we tolerate a bored state for long it can become a seedbed of imagination and to short circuit boredom is to short circuit creativity.

The temptation is to immediately solve boredom with media. When children are bored, we usually rescue them with television,videos,or computer games. Instead, if we allow boredom to build with no possibility of electronics, imagination will begin to surface. This is called play.Play is the business of childhood. It is healthy for kids to get bored and to have to play their way out of it.

In addition to loneliness and boredom,stress is another factor that drives us to a relaxing media respite. This is acceptable from time to time.But when a media respite becomes a media overload,turn off the television. When media saturation becomes physical sedentary and socially isolating,move to restore appropriate levels of physical and social activity, where real healing is found.

THE RX

Allow boredom to nourish the imagination rather than consume and reenergize participatory exoerience. Dont live a vicarious virtual-reality existence create a personal-experience reality and in doing so, you will increase physical exercise,connect to others,and build community.