Emma Brockes in her essay "I took my kids to the playground without bringing my phone – and it was a revelation" talks insightfully about the tension between doing and being. She writes of the contrast between selfish-distraction and unselfish-presence:

In and of themselves, these idle periods have no apparent value. But increasingly they strike me as the solid matter of life and the moments I’ll look back on with the deepest nostalgia.

I’ve been having this sense for a few years now, but it’s pathetic that what has sharpened revelation is the experience, twice in a row, of accidentally going out without my phone. After the panic subsided, I sat in the sunshine while my children rode their bikes up and down and then ditched them to play in the sand. I watched a barge make its way up the Hudson. I pointed out two sparrows enjoying a sand bath. (What even is that?)

Brockes concludes: "The funny thing is that of the two experiences of boredom, fighting it was the one that delivered the greatest sense of dead time, of passively waiting for something to end. The other – phoneless, rooted in minor-league bird watching – felt as active and urgent as only the best use of one’s time can."

(cf Running Bored (2003-10-11), Kundun (2010-03-31), Moments of Mindfulness (2016-09-15), ...) - ^z - 2023-05-18