Quiet Time

By Helen Vollmer, President

It was still dark outside. I was halfway to the airport last week when I realized that my cellphone (which I’d used as an alarm clock) was still on my nightstand and not in my purse. RATS!!!!!!! The good news was that I had both my laptop and my iPad and I figured I could handle anything for three days.

I survived. In fact, I thrived. I found I actually had a bit more time to think deep thoughts without an compulsive pull to an electronic device to check texts, voicemails and emails every three minutes or so. Surprisingly, while I sat in the airport reading an actual newspaper that morning, what did I find? Trend stories citing that 2012 would be the year we realize that enslaving ourselves to devices 24-7 inhibits productivity, creativity and problem solving.

Pico Iyer, author of “The Man Within My Head,” wrote a New York Times piece, The Joy of Quiet, where he cites cases where folks are paying big bucks to retreat to expensive locales without internet or televisions. As he noted, “We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating.”

Researchers say the average office worker today spends no more than three minutes at a time at his or her desk without interruption. Sound familiar?

This is not an anti- technology rant. On the contrary, technology will continue to occupy our lives, mostly for the better, as we stay in touch in new ways with the world around us. In fact, marketers are predicting that in 2012 we will see new downloadable apps, personalized product kiosks in stores, and more effective use by Fortune 500 companies of social networks, among other things.

All of which makes the value of quiet time even more important. Put the devices away periodically. Exercise without ear buds. Eat without the television blaring. Enjoy one-on-one conversations without email. And periodically remember to listen to yourself – it just may be the best conversation you’ve had in a long while.