"When was the last time you turned off your computer for an entire day?"
I thought about that and I guess the answer is the usual HR one: "It depends".
If the argument is about work and life balance, I am pretty good in switching off for entire days and forget. It was not like that all times, because I needed time and effort to achieve the maturity and confidence I personally needed to do that without consequences, but I can do now. Of course, I have a great team with me and I can trust them in all we do... next job I will land on, may be without a team (or simply, "my team") that could change, I know.
Now, if the discussion is about "can I live without a digital experience?" (internet, writing, reading gaming...) for an entire day, answer is... "I can avoid to have lunch for a day or two, which does not mean I like it".
Most people would consider this a symptom of an issue, and it could be. But I think we live in a times dominated by the "illusion of control": from nations to church, to family, to companies... we hope that the most of things are under control, are working rationally or - even if not - in a predictable way. We hope that people who behave against norms and rules are minorities, we trust that our job and our salary will be there tomorrow morning (and in most of the cases even if we are sick or can't go, it will stay), we count on other people doing what they are supposed to do (go to school come to work, drive keeping the right - unless british - and teaching proper things to our kids).
Are these rational expectations? I am sorry if it disturbs you, but no: they are not. In most of the world, all of these are luxury: your job can disappear in a sec, your salary could never get in bank (if it exists at all), police could be worse can criminals and - finally - your job could hunting to feed your family but there's no assurance you will succeed. In many parts of the world employees do not at all follow indications of the company they work for, neither of the church and the government (if any government at all exists).
For those of you who need to be persuaded that reality is not the one we strongly desire to be, I suggest looking back to Matrix (first one) and think about the message.
What's the connection with pc/tablets? Well, I think that pc and tablets give us a weapon in the daily battle to maintain illusion of control: the microcosm of your emails, your to-do list and the one of your co-workers [did you try TEAMBOX HD for iPad???? It's MARVELLOUS, I need to make a post on it], your books in kindle, your friends on facebook and many other things can be controlled, checked and re-organized in a click.
Do you need it? Of course you do, it's a way to maintain brain stable and avoid to think that world is just a mess and we live too short to put some little order in that. And even if you dream to live on an island beach without worries and duties, still, once you will get accustomed to check where "your things are", you will rarely let it go.
That's probably why we are so shocked by natural events destroying our world (but we do just a little to avoid them) or we are paralzyed by criminal acts: they go beyond our control and they put back the word "illusion" on the spot. On the other side, when imagining the future, we often think about super-AI, mega-pc or cyborgs or super-men with extra powers to... control the world! Are we dreaming to have a pc installed in our brain? yes we do (Gibson can give lessons on that).
Am I sure about that? No: infact, I do not know any religion in which "heaven" comes with iPad (not even jedi one)... it could mean that next step for humanity is not advancing on the road of controlling the world, but caring less of controlling at all.
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