Perfectly Imperfect

Back in high school, my English teacher decided to have my class read excerpts from Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden, in which the American philosopher details his experience living separate from civilization from a log cabin in the town which bears the book’s name. Our teacher argued that Thoreau sought to live alone to get away from the rush of technological advancements in society. On that same note, my teacher explained that Thoreau’s log cabin was located only a short distance away from the bustle of Walden’s society.

I do not go as far as to call Thoreau a hypocrite, but I will argue that living without technology, in this day and age, is practically impossible. Johann Hari is the modern Thoreau. In his book, Stolen Focus, he claims he goes to Provincetown to get away from technology, but does not fully disconnect from it.

After reading the first couple chapters, I found the book to be a “Thoreau-ly” well written and detailed experience about living away from technology. Hari escapes to Provincetown, living in a house disconnected from technology, with the exception of a laptop that can no longer connect to the internet and a phone designed for the elderly. I personally love how the book’s narrative, interviews with researchers aside, matches that of a well-written movie. (“We set our eyes on Adam singing Elvis. We fast forward to Graceland, where Johann yells at an elderly couple. We then cut to a comedic conversation with a guy from BestBuy — played by an up-and-coming comedian — who can’t understand why Johann wants a phone with no wi-fi connection.”)

Thoreau attempted to live apart from civilization, but could not fully get away. In the same way, Johann Hari tried to get his attention back from the use of tech, but not without bringing a laptop and phone, however useless they may be. It must be admitted however, that Hari’s approach is not to get away from technology, but to recover the attention which technology stole from him. In that way, bringing a laptop to write a novel is justified, but case in point: he could not leave some technological advances behind.

We have come to a time in society where we can no longer live fully apart from technology. It is either we stay oblivious to the reality that we have become overly dependent on technology, or set forth to cut back on our reliance on it. A complete breakup from technology is unrealistic. 

Thoreau won’t let me go. His ideas about getting away from innovation still persist to this day. But neither will technology let us go, nor will we let go of technology until we decide to lead it, rather than be led.