The Simpler Things in life

Before I wrote this blog I was eating my afternoon tea in the backyard, a chocolate cake to be precise, and then I thought, 'Now when did life get to be so complicated?'. I was complaining during afternoon tea, wondering why the chocolate cake was not so 'chocolate-y'. But then I thought- I get to have chocolate cake. I need to be thankful for that, and just enjoy it. Not to want something more- to enjoy the simple things when they come, and not to make things more complicated than what they are. Complicated, you say? Well, let me put it this way, it's definitely not that simple.

With the advent of facebook, twitter, youtube, and iPhone, both Mark Zuckerberg and the late Steve Jobs have revolutionized technology. You can see your friends, the one's you've lost contact with, on facebook, follow them on twitter and 'tweet' comments. Millions of people use facebook everyday to post comments, view photos, or even if you aren't a member of facebook, even just to go there to browse another person's facebook page is now normality. In fact, after Google, facebook is no. 2 in 'most popular websites'. I'm sure everyone has seen 'The Social Network', either at the cinemas or on DVD, so they all know how Zuckerberg started the company that made him a billionaire, but let me ask you this. With the introduction of these technological advancements into our lives and our homes, we spend most of our awake time either chatting to our friends on facebook, or glued to our phones like nothing else. Have they made our lives more complicated than what they should be?

Say for example my grandparents had a history of heart problems, this maybe could mean that either my mum or dad could have it, then giving a higher chance of me having it, meaning that I would need to decrease my daily intake of cholesterol, modifying my diet and therefore, helping me live longer. Whatever is in my genes is in my genes. I can’t change that. But then there is the other side to the coin. People say, that another influence, just as important or maybe even more important than genes, is the environment that we grow up in. A very well known hypothetical study, and I can’t remember the direct results of it, or whether it was a success, was that two identical twins were split at birth, and one lived in utter poverty in the slums of Africa, whereas the other lived in the 5 star luxury-setting of America. If one believed that genes and only genes determined who a person was, then it can be fair to say that the separation of the twins from each other wouldn't have made a huge difference to the physical, emotional, mental, or even their spiritual persona. But, as I know, and as others know as well, if you do put one twin in Africa and the other in America, or even Australia, then the results will be different. No matter what you’d argue, claiming that genes determine you, you’d know in your heart of hearts that the experiences that you face every day will be different in Africa compared to Australia, and how you are shaped is therefore determined by that. 

Someone in Africa who has so little in terms of physical needs, like water and food and fresh water, has so much. They have their family, friends, their joy, and sense of dignity. Whereas we in the west, we have all the technology and gadgets and gizmos that we ever need, but with the complexity of the technology that every teenager is itching to get their hands upon; our relationships with those around us seem to be less and less important. When was the last time in your life where you've sat down as a family, parents, spouses, children, siblings; for a substantial meal, and healthy discussion, about anything, and everything, about relationships, love, God, politics, death, and all the meaty subjects that we normally avoid? Frankly, with all the ‘distractions’ such as iPhones, MSN, Facebook, and e-mails, sitting down as a big family is a less of an occurrence. The common generation Y or Z teenager may not even join their parents for dinner; they’ll just hang out with their friends. I guess maybe, that phrase, “we need to change the world” needs to be thought of in a different way. How can we change the world when we aren't being kept accountable of whether we need to be changed first? 

Facebook has changed the way that we communicate, the way that we live. But is that at the expense of the simpler things in life? Like stopping to 'smell the roses', to go outside to play cricket or soccer rather than wanting to play it on X-Box 360. Or how about playing a board game with the family rather than shutting yourselves in your room to watch movies on your computer. Life, as much as we want it to be simple, isn't so.  So what do you think we should do about it? Can we have one day without technology? Maybe, maybe not. But just the thought of wanting to, and thinking and prioritizing the things that we do is the first step. Because at the end of the day, the simpler things in life, the relationships, the quiet family times that we all have, will last more than the newest iPod or the favourite TV show.

Life wasn't really meant to be complicated, but it is. How would you make your life simpler?

How would you imagine your life without a TV, computer, facebook? I know it'll be hard, but sometimes, hard is necessary. Sometimes, a task like this will challenge you to think 'Now did I actually need this thing or not?'

Feel free to post comments about which technological item that you believe that you could live without, even if only for a week.