The Paws Button

THE PAWS BUTTON

 

Getting my day started and finally it dawns on me, we don’t just get up, because the sun comes up, although scientists will say, “Light Sensitive and Sun is the key to life.”  And maybe they are right, but before I get off topic, I must make this point.  It is a new day, and I do not have to repeat myself over and over again.  But I do.  Routine and Habit and somehow I just follow the script.  Like this morning.  Up and ready to go at 7 am.  But of course,  I have no place to go, unless I do.   “Retired.”   Says it all.  “No place to go.”   

Saved by my routine, and one of the first things I do is want to read the newspaper.  But home delivery is now done by screen assembled items and have become accustomed to going to Google on my computer, and hitting the NEWS Button.  Been doing that for so long now, it is my only source of news.  So I scan through the banners seeking those things that interest me.  And guess what?

 

Told myself today, “….this is not news.”  Left with the notion that what I have been doing is no longer satisfactory.  Need more.  Or need different.  Need my paper newspaper back, but as you know, we move forward and the past is dead.  Unless of course, we ignore the self-help jargon and advice about living only in the moment.  So that changes things for me. 

 

And is early in the week and is a start.  Change one thing, and perhaps, that will be enough.  Haven’t found it to be that way, but again I am new at this.  Typed in  today’s date.  Happens to be October 6, 2015.  Then I entered, “…..news.”   Hit the search button and now I have a full page of results that suggest that if I click on this,  I will find what I am looking for.  All I wanted to do was read the morning newspaper and have a cup of coffee or tea to get my day started.  Now 3 hours later, and I have the sound turned down, am preoccupied with looking at one screen that will continue all day, with video coverage of dreadful things going on, and suddenly I am aware.  This is no longer satisfying me.  Now what to do?

 

Find myself going to another screen and am composing a blog segment, so that I can replace the blog that I wrote yesterday or last week, or wait, will have to check the date and look at what I am doing more closely.  Not sure, but am aware that the last blog I wrote no longer satisfies me.  New.  Different. More.   Multi-tasking and purpose-driven, but when I take a closer look I realize I have been programmed to do all this, and at some point I say, “….not satisfied.  Not what I wanted.”

 

And might just be our modern day.  Devices and we hit the button and repeat what we always do while driving or riding the bus.  Pull out the smart phone or new device, and find out what we have missed, or just because this is what we do, we check for emails, or a new posting on facebook from our favorites, or in the case of  multi-tasking we do so many things at one time, it hardly registers all the things we do, because of our devices.  So life at full speed, and no time to be in the moment.  Am starting to realize that it is no longer up to me, what happens next.  I am programmed and not really thinking.  Just hitting the buttons and clicking on this and that.  I am.  A by-product of the environment I find myself in, I am becoming something I never thought possible. 

 

Automated and annotated, all you have to do is check my history of what I do, when I am not with you.  Mostly online and its there.  Click and Search and Improvise.  Most amazing.  And it dawns on me,  I am being overwhelmed by what I do.  Leaves me with a choice.  The Paws Button.

 

Blogging about my everyday life, and realize things are moving at the speed of light, and soon the silicon chip will be replaced by NanoTube technology, and Silicon Valley will be remote and ignored.  Well maybe not, it is all speculation that we are yesterday’s news, and obsolete.  Blogging and it dawns on me, looking for a reliable news space that comfortably replaces my cup of coffee and newspaper, sitting at the table before I rush off to school or work or somewhere. 

 

And now I say, “….where is my i-pod or my phone or my device.”  So many things now contained on the screen, that I can not complete my day without it.  And that is when I realized, I need to hit The Pause Button.   Have a timeout and reconsider what I am doing.  So I instructed my device, using oral/audio commands, “…..Pause Button.”   Instead it reacted to my odd voice inflection, because I was eating toast and speaking with food in my mouth.  Next thing I know the screen is filling up and I am distracted.  PAWS BUTTON.

 

Never realized before that all of this could be amusing or fun.  Now I am in the moment.  Hit The Pause Button becomes   Paws Button and full screen.  Haven’t taken the time yet to explore the fruits of my labor.  All being done without me.  Had my mouth full of food, packing it down before I had to leave for work or school.  Seeking energy and all I wanted was a newspaper and a cup of coffee.   Now I have The Paws Button and screens full of things that call for my attention.  Programmed to respond, all I have to do is Click On This.  And there goes my timeout.  No rest. 

 

And later when I turn my smart phone on, there will be no time for me.  Instead there will be this field of emails and tweets and facebook responses.  “….What the Heck.”  Paws Button media takes over, and until I hit the erase button or key, I am a by-product of my environment, and that includes all my devices and smart phone and screen.

 

Is when I realize.  This is endless.  There is no timeout.  The Pause Button is replaced by the PAWS Button.  And that is where this all begins.  Type in a Title.  Automated programs read your keystrokes and before you know it, the news is not all that important to you.  You are being fed and led and consumed by all of this.  So this is how my blog ends.  But like I said and it might be true.  “…..All of this is endless.”