Stepping Back from the Mac

Last Tuesday, my otherwise trusty MacBook sputtered out for the second time in six months. In February, I returned home to find my white plastic-encased sidekick unable to boot up. One new hard drive later, I was back in action (Apple’s awesome Time Machine utility saved me from any data loss). Unfortunately, I had to relive this scenario last week when my MacBook wouldn’t revive after a routine reboot. And so it was, after a painless call to AppleCare tech support, that I shipped my MacBook off to let the wizards work their magic on my poor, sick machine.

(Don’t worry, Mac lovers, this isn’t a hate-on-Apple post. I’d much rather have my backed-up MacBook die every six to twelve months, and be bug-free in the interim, than have a constantly bogged down PC frustrate me on a daily basis. What’s more, AppleCare was impeccable with their service. I called them on Wednesday, and they had a box to me for my MacBook on Thursday morning. They received, repaired, and reshipped it on Friday, and it’s been in D.C. since Saturday.)

In the period between shipping my computer to Apple’s repair depot and this moment, I’ve enjoyed a nice weekend away from the computer. It’s true that I cheated a little and used my roommate’s iMac to do some quick e-mail checking and such. And although I don’t exactly count the Kindle as a computer, I did spend some significant time with it as well. My computer vacation, though, has made me realize just how much of my free time revolves around my laptop.

I won’t go so far as to say all of that time is “wasted,” but there was a noticeable change in my weekend routine in the absence of my MacBook. Instead of reading the news on my computer on Saturday, I downloaded the New York Times to my Kindle and read it in the living room while enjoying some coffee with my roommate. Instead of drafting some letters and jotting down some notes in MS Word, I pulled out a legal pad and scratched my thoughts there. Instead of reading my feeds last night or drafting a blog post, I curled up (again with the Kindle) to cut through a few more chapters of the book I’ve been reading. The change didn’t really come in level of productivity, but simply in the way in which I spent my time. I spent more time outside my room and in our living room. I stretched out on the couch instead of huddling over my desk.

I have two thoughts from this unplugged weekend. First, the Kindle is more awesome than I allowed my previous review to express. It is easier to hold than I let on (when I actually wrote my review, I did not have the device with me), and can be gripped readily with either hand. The Kindle absolutely disappears in your hand and lets you enter into the author’s words without distraction. The New York Times downloaded in less than 20 seconds. I can also reconfirm my claim that — at least for me — reading comes easier and quicker on the Kindle than either on a screen or on a page. The only stumbling block to the Kindle is the geek factor (who wants to be that guy standing on a bus with an e-reader in his hands?), but as it gains wider and wider adoption this will dissipate. Amazon really hit the nail on the head, and as long as they don’t try to do too much with Kindle 2.0, then it will also be a raging success.

My second thought is best expressed by referring to a scene from WALL-E. At one point in the film, our curious little robotic hero damages the electronic wheelchair of one of the humans aboard the Axiom, the space cruise ship that has been satisfying its passengers’ unlimited demands for comfort and luxury for hundreds of years. The chair is outfitted with a screen that blocks out everything around it, distracting its occupant with advertisements, videochats, TV shows, and more. As the damaged screen sputters out (much like my MacBook), the woman in the chair goes wide-eyed as she observes — seemingly for the first time — her environment. She meets another passenger, and they both frolic in a pool that they’ve both zoomed by in their wheelchairs every day, but neither of them knew it had existed.

I wouldn’t say that we’re as doomed as the movie makes us to be. And I wouldn’t say that my altered routine this weekend really had a profound effect on my overall well-being. But the palpable feeling of a little emptiness coupled with my altered behavior signaled that perhaps I need to be more intentional about how I spend my free time. Computers make certain parts of life easy, but they can make it easy to isolate oneself as well. The humans depicted in WALL-E are obese and self-obsessed. The film offers a comical, but frighteningly poignant picture of our potential future as a species. From time to time, we need to unplug, go outside, and smell the roses — even if only to change things up for a day.

Images used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr users functoruser and inky.

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Another Rachel 4 months ago 1 point
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Don't you think it's interesting that even in your "unplugging" activities that you mentioned, two of three were on your new electronic device? Even though you changed locations and interacted more with humans, you were still looking at a screen. And though you talk about the WALL-E moment where the humans realize what's around them and actually interact with their environment, you cite as a benefit of the Kindle that it seems to disappear from your hand and let you read without distraction. Does that mean that the actual physical device doesn't matter?

I'm not arguing with your point - I think it's a great one. I am frequently astonished by the amount of time I spend staring at a computer screen. But, if the benefit comes in interaction with real objects and real people then play a game, look at a photo album, use things where the actual object, environment, and company really matter.

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Jarred 4 months ago 1 point
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Fair enough, though I'd argue that laptops and the Kindle are real objects to be interacted with. The problem with the laptop for me is that it enables my addictions. It has all my music, photos, and writing. With the Internet, I can read about anything at any time. There is unlimited, diverse supply for my high demand. As a result, I use it all the time because it's easy.

The computer is a real tool that matters just as much as games or photo albums. The problem is that I never get bored of it, like I would -- after a time -- with a photo album or a game. The Kindle was a nice step back because it has a limited supply of information. At its essence, it's simply ink on a surface, and so is just as "real" an object as a book or photo. The screen isn't the issue; the problem is how and how often it's used.

But as you say, we agree. The main lesson I walked away with this weekend was that it's important to be intentional about how I spend my time. Too much of anything -- computers, games, sports, you name it -- is never good. Moderation in everything, everything in moderation.

And for what it's worth, this weekend I also went to dinner with friends, saw a Dave Matthews Band concert with friends, played in the park with my friend's daughter, and sat on a roof listening to friends play music. So, I'm not a completely hopeless cause... just didn't mention those because they weren't a result of my computer being repaired.

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Taylor 4 months ago 1 point
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The last paragraph of your comment is important, Jarred. Let's call it the "I have friends" addendum. What your post talked about was spending the time you would spend in front of the computer doing other things...even if some of them involved gadgetry. You weren't talking about how reading from the Kindle instead of your MacBook changed your life...just about the difference in a few days' worth of "computer time" re-allocated to other things.

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Jarred 4 months ago 1 point
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Here's what A.O. Scott had to say about the human characters in his review of WALL-E in the NYT:

They’re us, in other words. And like us, they’re not all bad. The paradox at the heart of “Wall-E” is that the drive to invent new things and improve the old ones — to buy and sell and make and collect — creates the potential for disaster and also the possible path away from it. Or, put another way, some of the same impulses that fill the world of “Wall-E” — our world — with junk can also fill it with art.

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