Before tech-recovery, I would stand in line with my head down, eyes fixed, consciousness absorbed by my smartphone.
I was trapped in a digital silo.
Rather than standing with the uncertainty of staying present in the queue, I would choose the familiar comfort of instant, if superficial, connection.
Once, while standing in an elevator, an older fellow rider remarked, “I witnessed last week. I got in this elevator with someone who was not buried in a phone.” Is that normal?
Are we so profoundly stuck in our digital silos that we consider a digi-freeman a miracle?
Yes. And we have a way out. My elevator companion, a fleeting but important presence, showed me how to escape my silo. His remark, albeit snarky, came from a place of longing. A genuine desire to connect, which is what we did. For 6 floors, we shared two sentences of dialogue; we witnessed each other, shared a bit of ourselves and parted ways forever changed.
How do you break out of your digital silo? What would it take for you to leave you smartphone in your pocket?