This article is one from my writing archives. I wrote this a year ago the day after I sold my first, and only, ever iPod. I have been flirting with meditation and relaxation techniques of late and one thing that comes shining through in Eckhart Tolle’s ”Power of Now” is the idea that quieting the mind is a very powerful personal development tool. The iPod, and many other forms of modern technology for that matter, dulls the senses and suppresses the inherent power of the human mind. This article is intended to be provocative but in it resides a simple truth: Technology is not always good for the advancement of humanity.
Ok, I will admit that I was sucked in by the Apple marketing machine. I believed that my life was not complete with an iPod, that I was not fully living up to my potential without those white headphones dangling from my ear. It was early 2009 when I bought my first iPod, I was so far behind the trend that it was a 4th generation nano. But I did not care. I wore it loud and proud, because I felt cool, hip even. I had joined the iPod generation. At first I was amazed by the power of the thing. Having spent my formative years in a world without computers and cell phones (I actually still own a walkman and have a lot of my music still on tape) I felt empowered by the knowledge that I could carry around so much entertainment and information on one tiny device. I downloaded podcasts from the Wall Street Journal to TED to fitness shows. I was growing as a human being … or so I thought. That is, until one day, yesterday as it happens, I realised that my iPod was hindering my growth. The iPod kills creativity and is nothing more than another tool employed by Big Corporate to dumb down consumer society.
I had stopped writing, I had stopped reading, but more crucially, I had stopped thinking. With the iPod you do not need to think – why? Because every free moment you have you simply stick those headphones in your ears and your mind is instantly distracted. Walking to walk – distracted, on the bus – distracted, on a 12 hour flight from Auckland to Brunei – distracted, at the gym – distracted. Instead of using our time outside of work and study to think we have taken to distracting our mind with music, or the thoughts and works of others. Great ideas come when we allow our minds the time and room to think. If we are constantly filling our ears with information and music then we deny ourselves this opportunity. I agree that distraction is good at times, and all we want to do is retreat into our favourite music. But when retreat becomes the status quo, when more people walk around with headphones in than without, when runners take to the pavement with music blaring into their ears, we lose that time to think, to plan, to debate great ideas with ourselves. As a result, society becomes poorer. Apple, the bastion of creativity, is destroying the very thing it has built its business on. But that no longer matters. People have been conditioned to believe that it is The Way. The iPod was not enough, we needed the Nano, and the Touch, and the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3GS. [And now, the iPad and iPhone 4!]
But the truth is we do not. The more I thought about it the more I realised that I have absolutely no need in my life for my iPod, let alone an iPhone. I can still download podcast from iTunes, I can still listen to music when I am home and want to relax. On a recent 12 hour flight from London to Bangkok I left my iPod in my bag and picked up several newspapers to read. I spent the next 12 hours reading the news of the day and thinking about the articles. It was liberating. I read at my own pace, I made notes, and I though about issues and ideas. It was the most amazing 12 hours – free from distractions, as we fly through the night I exercised my brain and allowed my creativity to flow.
If we want to grow as individuals, and as a society, then we need to take the time allow our creativity to flourish and our ideas to develop into solutions which will improve our lives and the lives of others. The only way to achieve this is with a free mind. For the first time in six months my walk into work this morning was free from distractions. I took in the beauty of the hills above Otari-Wilton and the sun sweeping from the Rimataka’s out across the Harbour. My mind was at peace and the thoughts and ideas came flooding back. I wrote this is a matter of minutes during that walk. I let my consciousness flow into that walk and I arrived at work feeling a complete sense of inner peace.
I have sold my iPod, and in doing so I have liberated myself.
That’s odd. I find that I draw most of my inspiration while listening to music.