What is "real time?"

Spent most of the evening sitting in front of the fire, with the hound curled up by my side.

I am grateful that I can have a fire to sit in front of, and I love my dog, but instead of taking the time to appreciate these blessings, I've got one eye on Al Jazeera on the flat screen and the other on Redd Foxx on the laptop.

After considerable ponderation, I have concluded that your time isn't really real unless you get your face out of the screens.

Stepped out for a breath of fresh air just a few minutes ago. Lo and behold, the night sky is clear, and there are more stars than you could ever count. Standing dumbfounded staring at the sky isn't widely considered a productive use of one's time, but it does help you put things in perspective.

How many of those distant stars have planets whirling around them?

In an infinite sky, there are infinite possibilities.

But rather than considering those possibilities, we would rather retreat to our screens.  

Resist Google, Resist Facebook, turn off your screen and go talk to your kids...

It's not every day I get to agree with something I find on the op-ed pages of the NYT, but Ross Douthat pretty much nailed it with this effort.

I especially like his comments on cellphones and laptops in classrooms. Why are there computers in primary schools? Shouldn't those kids be learning their colours and their alphabet and how to add and subtract? How do you need computers for that?

From what I've heard cellphones have completely taken over the highschools. How is it that teens today can't get through a school day without being able to exchange text messages with their mom?

And I can see why university lecturers are beyond fed up with talking to rooms of kids who are on their screens.

So why is there so little resistance to this tyranny of the screen?

Probably because this infrastructure of digital addiction has already ensnared so many of us.

Resistance is futile!