Happy New Year - Occidental, and Oriental when it comes.
Apologies for the delayed First Post for the year, but let me explain.
I don’t know about you but there is a sinking feeling that always exists after Christmas when the leftover turkey gets re-cycled into every new recipe imaginable. That said I would really draw the line at turkey ice cream - although I have now found the answer to the leftover turkey problem – roast beef!
Anyway – this is not about a turkey or Turkey, but “cold turkey” the name given to someone who is trying to break free of a perceived addiction. In this case, digital devices!!
(With acknowledgement to "Off the Leash" by Rupert Fawcett)
I started January 2018 in travel mode and in the company of friends - in fact I was with much of the same group for the majority of the month. These are friends of long standing, ranging from 40 years of friendship to the most recent, only 25 years, and from various parts of the world. One or two of them, and I do understand, have not really come to grips with the modern era and were thus somewhat critical of anyone using digital devices especially when we were supposed to be on holiday, relaxing and catching up by the use of face to face communication.
I admit it, I'm not very well-behaved when it comes to disciplining my own use of devices, and therefore confess to a "certain amount" of addiction which I have - honestly - been trying to overcome. I am supposed to be sort of retired although I do, thankfully, have a number of commitments that require my attention. That said, I am also conscious that even within the workplace these days, when people take a vacation some companies actually forbid their use of emails and the like. Two purposes here - one is to ensure that in the unlikely event someone has been been misbehaving an absence from the use of their business device might bring misdemeanours to light (sadly and surely a forlorn hope these days because if they are actually cheating their own company intentionally, as they will be ultra-cautious!!), and the rather more altruistic ideal of giving people a real break.
So, I set out to prove that I was not addicted to my devices (other than downloading my daily newspaper), and could operate on a minimal-use basis just as well as anyone - and in the full understanding that I would have unfettered access on my return to the real world. Whatever real world means for someone partly retired and ultimately heading down towards the fully retired bucket in the foreseeable future.
Thus it was, dear readers, that for a little over three weeks I was permitted to at least read and respond to the occasional unavoidable work email, but others were either put on hold or may have received a holding reply. Of course the problem is that I have, over the years, cast something of a rod for my own back by keeping generally up to speed with and using technology, and by responding quickly and at whatever time to emails.
It was - shall we say - interesting!! I had questions about my health because my lack of response was out of character, and I am sure that some people thought I was being rude by not responding immediately but hey, once I am retired I will have plenty of time to respond to emails and the like - and who's going to send me emails then anyway.
But I'm not retiring just yet - and when I do I am still trying to work out where I am going to live - and so for me, experiment over. I am happy with my generally "controlled" addiction. A functioning e-coholic you might say, and emails will in future be answered/sent as they used to be. Oh, and if I haven't replied to one of you yet, my apologies, it will be with you shortly!!
