Too Much Information

I want to start by thanking you for reading this-at least the first line or two. I asked a friend to read my blog once and her response was, “the world is full of just too much information!” I believe she is right you know. There is no library that could hold every book ever written. I imagine the Dewey Decimal System had to expand using further decimals. Not to mention the endless information from a Google search. Put in the word ‘blog’ and there are more than 12 billion related articles. Our minds can be learning, reading, researching, exploring, creating, from our first breath to our last and never ever run out of material. Add to that newspapers, magazines, documentaries, conversation, conjecture, ponderings and nightmares. Our minds never have a chance to rest. I read somewhere that our brains have the ability to store on the average of 2.5 million gigabytes of digital memory. I heard the term Techno Sapiens on a PBS show this evening- this the evolution of Homo Sapiens  resulting from our integration with technology. Frightening to think of what the future might hold.

I have this idea that in the future a memory chip will be implanted in each new human life. That memory chip will record all of the memories and data of our lives – names, places, events, education-and then as we grow old and begin to forget-we will automatically access the memories stored in this chip – and voila – no memory loss.

I think about the brain – body relationship. If we are using our brains far more than our bodies, (certainly not everyone, but many) I wonder if evolution will create humans with very large heads and very small limbs? How do we find a way to balance the use of our bodies and our brains? How do we turn off our phones, TVs, and computers and get up and dance, or walk, or swim, or skate? Have we lost this balance in life? I know I live far more in my head than in my body. As much as I like physical activity I can easily be swept up by the pull of a question, an idea and a computer. There I have the world at my fingertips! There is no end to the possibilities of exploration, communication and creativity, even though I know how unhealthy this imbalance might be.

We used to have to hop out of the car to open the garage door – we had to jump up to change the TV channel, go to the library to do a research paper, and in days long gone – head to the barn to collect the eggs and milk the cow and grind the grain. But all of life seems to be at our fingertips. We don’t even have to go to the grocery store if we don’t want to – someone can deliver everything to our door. And to take that another step further meals can be delivered right to our homes without even having to prepare them. Does that all give us more time to live in our heads rather than our bodies? We live in walkable villages with many sidewalks but aside from Main Street they are largely empty. I like to think back to the days when people sat on their front porches waving and chatting with everyone walking by.

Even as I am heading to that age where I can apply for a lifelong pass to the National Parks, discounted movie tickets and a Medicare card – I have read that there are ways that we can try to continue to help our brains to age more gracefully – some include meditation, regular exercise, writing, listening to Mozart, laughing, getting a good night’s sleep and eating a healthy diet. It seems that those same seven things may be the magic bullet for all sorts of health concerns. I guess what I am thinking is that we need – well I need- to get back in touch with my body and give my head a break now and then. To focus on the beauty of the physical world and not just the cerebral one – rebuild my strength and agility- stretch up to the stars, walk amid the trees, ride my bike, get my feet in the sand, turn on some music and just dance.

 An upbeat song from my kid’s CD- “Songs for Growing”