Footloose and Digital Free… Doing Analog in a Digital World

 

Doing Analog in a Digital world…

Our journey in the LifeUntucked community is to reconnect with the ‘soul’ of living and to the life well lived. And to live it in a less digital way…

But, not to worry–we will still use apps! I want to emphasize this. LifeUntucked is in no way anti-digital or anti-technology. In fact, “keeping up” is part of the formula.

We live in the world we live in. Deep, huh? Think about it, though. If you’re not “living” in this world? Where are you going to live?

Sure, find some far-away, off-the-beaten-path place and do your own thing. That’s okay, it’s just not untucked… here, we embrace our world. As we find it, and as it changes.

The cool thing is, a lot of “analog” is making a resurgence.

Some call it “the rise of the analog.”  Sounds earthshattering, doesn’t it?

The most celebrated, by some anyway, is the return of the vinyl LP record. You’re a big deal in the music world if you’re able to release on vinyl.

We love to feel “real” things in our hands. There’s nothing like flipping to the B-side with a skilled flick of the wrist.

Printed books are making a comeback too… just in time to save the last two bookstores in the whole metro area.

I have to credit the introduction of the Kindle for enabling my reading habit. I always liked books and could wander in a bookstore for hours. But I was never much of a reader. Go figure.

But then I met Kindle, I was off and reading nonstop.

AND, the more I read on Kindle, the more printed books I read. Certain books just need to be held, written in, marked up (don’t tell Sister Mary Witharuler), highlighted, and dog-eared to be complete, to be a book well loved.

Books and records are jut the beginning.

Here’s my Best-of-Analog list (ouch, ‘list’… trust me, they’re coming back too!)

• Vinyl records of course. That is, even though mine are in a box in the basement. There’s nothing quite like holding an album in your hands.
• Post-Its. I love those things.
• Notecards. Check.
• Checks? Glad they’re almost gone. Now let’s work on the penny.
• Show me digital duct tape, anyone?
• And we mentioned “real” books.
• Highlighters… for the “real” books.
• A ballpoint pen. Here’s the one to get—the UniBall Jetstream RT. It writes better than any $100 pen out there. And it clicks like a pen ought to.
• And with that pen, you write in your journal. The act is humanizing and necessary. (I don’t understand what I just wrote either. But it sounded journal-worthy).
• Handwritten “Thank You” notes. I’ve received few recently. Yes, I say thank you by email most often. But there’s nothing quite as sincere and as nice to receive as a thank you note on paper.
• Anything that has stood the test of time.
• Campfires… throw in some friends and a guitar and nothing else comes close.
• There are app’s for this, but meditation is best in analog.
• Making things, building things, anything… “Here, I made this for you.”
• Planners. I just bought one for the first time in over ten years. We’ll see how it goes. (It’s still in the box).
• An analog “first hour” of the day. I’ve only made it up to the first “half-hour” so far. But, I’m working on it.
• Now, if I just lived on a beach… I’d go take a walk.

What are some of your analog fav’s? Let me know so we can keep building this list.

Apps are still allowed. But remember, you’ve got to unplug to recharge… so you can keep up.

 

Thanks for visiting LifeUntucked.net! We’ll be exploring this amazing, hyper-connected world and figuring out how to live bigger lives through smaller things and simpler ways. I post on Wednesdays.

If you found this post interesting, I’d like to invite you to subscribe.

Just click the box below or to the side… depending on what device you’re using.