Are we addicted to each other? We have advanced so far with technology that we can be in constant contact. Maybe technology is the addiction. I mean, the constant contact is actually contact without contact. We can talk 24 hours a day and we don’t have to be strapped to a landline. We can talk on the phone while driving, shopping, and, with the aid of hands-free devices, while typing, sewing, or whatever else comes to mind. Via the remarkable internet, we can even video call each other. But we never even have to be in the same room to see each other. We can even access our email at a moment’s notice thanks to the amazing Crackberry, I mean, Blackberry. Our addiction has already become a joke.
But doesn’t all of this non-together togetherness beg the question, “how much is too much?”? In a world where we can shop online, never leaving your house has become a real possibility. Actually, I’m sure it’s a reality for some. You can have visual and telephonic contact with people. But, what about touch? I feel like I have a ton of friends, yet I rarely see them. We are all so busy that we only have time for the occasional phone call or email. As a matter of fact, we rarely even email.
Maybe the actual addiction is busyness is the addiction. We all so love to be busy that we’ve overscheduled ourselves to the point of some sort of controlled hermit-ism. Did we ever stop to think that maybe there is such a thing as too busy? If you’re too busy to schedule time to yourself, a date, drinks with the girls, a drag show with your favorite queen, or time to buy a new pair of jeans, you’re too busy. If you’re so busy that you don’t remember the last time you had a day off, you’re too busy. If it’s been over six months since you got out of town, you’re too busy.
I think it’s a uniquely American problem. In other countries, work is left behind at 5 or 6 PM and family time is treasured. Capitalism has created a monster. We must be the only country that believes in 60 hour work weeks in order to afford the mortgage for that huge house for that family that we wanted to have but never have time to see because we are working so much.
We are all addicts in this country. We judge the self-medicating the hardest. But, we all have an addiction in some way or another. I think it’s time for all of us to enter rehab. Maybe it’s a week without email or a cell phone. Maybe force yourself to take that vacation you’ve been dreaming of for the past six years. Maybe downsize so that you don’t have to work so hard. I wish it were going to be easier, but rehab never is.
