Idiosyncratic Beeps

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Taking a moment to express gratitude for the things we have. I’ve learned in this time how easy it can be to fall into the endless loop of needing distraction, wanting distraction, and despising distraction. The chaos of our lives, whether on a micro or macro level, is often experienced with this slab of glass in our face. It truly has become the blackest of mirrors.

Yet in this time, it has been a connection to the world, a mechanism for change and a refuge of normalcy. And when you take a breath, and see these devices for their design, for the language that we’ve developed with them, for the intimacy that we share with them, it is a remarkable thing indeed. It’s so easy to take for granted everything these things actually let us do; if you pause to think about it, my god, we do absolutely everything with them.

So here’s the trick, I think, for using our minds a little bit more when we pick up this thing that challenges our mindfulness. Read every message in the voice of the person sending it. Hear how they would say it, rather than in your own voice - for a device with a thousand idiosyncratic beeps, it’s an extremely monotone place.

Let the voices of the people you love echo through your interactions. Let your memories take hold as you look at their photos; a clip of the family pet still says a lot. And if you’re reading the voices of people who’s voices you’ve barely heard, remember not to let them drown out everything around them. We’re all in this together. We’re all in THIS together.