Summary and Response to Artifact 2

It's ironic that in my introduction to philosophy class that I just learned about Aristotle's golden mean. Essentially the golden mean is a way of living life. It is the battle between two extremes; excess at one end of the scale and deficiency at the other. Aristotle suggest that we live a life in the middle, the most widely used example of this would be exercise. To much physical activity and one can exhaust themselves to the point were they aren't effective at doing any other tasks in life. Too little exercise and one will be weak and not have the energy/stamina to take on life's obstacles. This seems to be the conundrum in William Powers book, Hamlet's blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age. With advances in technology our society has learned to connect better but we've since become entangled in our devices. The evidence that our society is too connected can be observed at work, at school, at home, behind the wheel, or during a walk in the park. In all of these instances the probability that you'll witness someone on the phone or surfing the web is extremely high in comparison to witnessing people not connected to a device. However, Powers argues that we also need those empty moments. Moments of peace and tranquility, a time when we can just sit down an unplug from our devices. I believe that the answer to the conundrum of connectedness falls right in the middle. The most compelling thing stated in Powers interview is that conversation is the great path to wisdom. If we truly “disconnect” than we are putting ourselves at risk of being left behind because we'll be unaware of what's happening around us . As illustrated in Powers story about his family's traditional weekend and their plans to go to a movie, they were unaware of the start-time because they were not connected. Conversely if we are always plugged in, our off-line relationships with family and friends can suffer because we're too busy trying to keep up with all the information being funneled through our devices. There has to be a balancing act between the time we spend connected and the time we don't. For me personally I try not to spend more than three hours at any given time connected to a device. I would consider my self an introvert, and I appreciate the time that I have away from being connected online, so it's relatively easy for me to disconnect. For those who struggle with unplugging I suggest that they take small steps and like cutting off their phone during meal times or not checking there emails during the hours of 12 am and 6am. If someone's willing to take those small steps, then I believe it will go a long way in the process of solving the conundrum of connectedness.