Urgency, agency, slowing down

Our nervous systems do not process at the speed of the internet

I think a lot about the ways modern technology and social media feed our senses of immediacy and urgency. The ways our expectations around communication has shifted. The ways it all impacts our ability to be in the in-between spaces, to be in the silence, as well as how it affects our own autonomy and agency. 

“Life does not move at the speed of the internet.” Our brains don’t either. Nor does our very human ability to process information, feelings, experiences. 

Because we have the technology that gives us the choice to respond or share information immediately, we have grown a very bizarre skewed expectation that we (and others) *should* reply immediately.

I think about lovers at the turn of last century. Anais and Henry. Frida and Diego. Simone and Jean-Paul. Their letters published for us all to read now. Letters that took weeks or months to be delivered.  Weeks and months between communications.  Weeks and months of not knowing a reply, of living in the anticipation, of moving on with daily life and not becoming irritated after five minutes of quiet. 

We live in a time where we can watch wars in real time. Literally watch them on a screen with our own eyes. A time when we are constantly bombarded with information. A time when if we have a question, any question, an answer (that may or may not be accurate) is right at our fingertips. 

We have so little quiet now. So little escape. We have learned to be in constant immediate reaction without slowing down to feel through how or even if we actually want to respond. We have truncated language in an attempt to parse and consume information even faster.

What we if we slowed down? What if we gave others and ourselves space to respond when they/we are ready, when they/we want, after they/we have thought about what we actually want to say or do?

What if we learned ways to calm our own urgency? What if we asked ourselves if we actually need or even want to participate in a conversation? What if instead of reacting, we slowed down and responded?

What if we asked ourselves