For so many of us, our relationship with technology is a trying, push-pull affair — not least of all when we’re also trying to make some kind of meditative or contemplative approach part of our lives as well. It’s that kind of conflict that informed filmmaker Tiffany Shlain — the subject of our November issue‘s Q&A by Rod Meade Sperry — as she went forth to create her new documentary, Connected: An Autobiography About Love, Death, and Technology.
The entire Q&A is now online. See what Shlain has to say about how being connected online can be both good and bad for us, how her family has learned to unplug mindfully thanks to “technology Shabbats,” and more. Read the Q&A here.
And: Click here to watch the Connected trailer. And by the way, the the film is currently playing in New York City, through Oct 28, at the Chelsea Village. It will be opening in Denver on Oct 28 at the Chez Artiste theater.
4 Comments
Did you know that spoken language is also "technology"? If you are looking for something to unplug…
BTW – "agriculture" is also "technology". Food for thought.
Why were the other comments deleted? Take care that you do not make the aversion to playful interactions and investigations into a reflexive impulse. This blog is already quite far enough from an honest and simple life. The appropriation of the sacred is not actually achievable by artifice, regardless of how clean and pure and high and spiritual you wish to appear. The builders of the castle know all the weak spots… and you shall cast them into your enemy's ranks at your own peril.
Honestly, we've been so deluged with spam, as other sites have been, that there must have been an error made in confusion. We have no aversion to playful interactions, so long as they're not spam (or clearly wrong speech).
Its certainly an opportunity for discernment, as the danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not just a quaint cliche in this instance. Frankly, the essence of these teachings is entirely worth the extra effort it may require in this day and age. I do not see a need to water them down or appeal to the lowest common denominator of public opinion – or alternately to dress them up in various costumes of superiority and idealism. The holier-than-thou fundamentalism often on display here is not indicative of a thorough practice in terms of awakening.
I have witnessed this deluge of spam as well, and it is not a meaningless or irrelevant situation regarding the rest of this website in general.