Digital Antidotes

Recently, at a gas station the kid on duty was so locked into his cell phone he didn’t even notice I had pulled up. (Yep, in New Jersey we aren’t permitted to pump our own gas, although in this case I was tempted to). “Yo, I’m over here.” The kid took my card, and applied the hose, all the while on his phone. I noticed it wasn’t pumping. “Say, is this thing working?” I hollered. He came back and hit the buttons which he had neglected to do, still on his phone. Filled up, he gave me the thumbs up, never said a word, still on his phone.

As this was happening Brian Lehrer was inviting listeners who had dumped their Smart phones to call into his WNYC radio show and share their experiences. These flip-phone Luddites, had various reasons for abandoning their modern conveniences – for some addiction, others, expense, but most were rebelling against the time suck these devices impose on us. Smartphones tend to control our lives, and they definitely make us less smart. We’re constantly looking for them and panicking if we can’t find them. I wondered what I would miss without my smart phone. Navigation definitely – how would I get around? Weather – I probably look at that way too much. As I am now a Spotify subscriber, I would miss music too. And with my nomadic lifestyle, I need it for internet connection (not necessarily social media).

One caller described himself as a hybrid user. Flip-phone for everyday contact with people and Smartphone when needed. My off-grid attempts are to try and keep my Smartphone mostly dark, except when I need to use it, not when it needs me – notifications off.

As I have mentioned before, I try to keep politics out of the art therapy arena of Limetree Roadside PubCafe – except to include some of the rants of my rancorous friend Jams O’Dingus. Which is not to say that I’m immune to rising blood pressure caused by the avalanche of authoritarianism that seems to be enveloping this country. But I’d rather talk about antidotes to such feelings – like this experience. A daytrip into NYC, which in itself usually increases the blood pressure with all the hustle and bustle. This was a different, maybe because it was Mothers Day, maybe just because it was a beautiful weather, 70s, breezy, no humidity and a Sunday. With the mother of our children I took the ferry from NJ across the Hudson to 39th Street, always a nice way to approach the concrete canyons of Manhattan.

The ferry bus service deposited us at the southern entrance to Central Park. The 45-minute walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (my wife’s Mother’s Day wish) gave us ample exposure to people enjoying the pleasures of the park – nature’s full blush of spring, people playing, picnicking, boating, walking, running, biking, relaxing, violin and saxophone sprinkling, and everywhere people SMILING. The same on the return walk – plain good vibes everywhere, a heartwarming antidote to everyday angst.  

Pleasures of the park and John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" at the Met.

One antidote to the superficial and transient nature of our digital world is to spend some time interacting with something that had meaningful time and effort put into its creation – which is what I did at the Met. The John Singer Sargent exhibition was the wife’s main focus and to experience the sheer skill and scope of his portraiture was inspiring. Otherwise, the sheer magnitude of the Met was almost overpowering. It is an easy place in which to get lost, which we did separately, but there’s only so much culture one can absorb at one time. We were only a few days late for the annual Gala – oh yeah, we would have fit right in on the red carpet, lol. I wonder how much art attendees were able to appreciate.