I am sitting in Belém gardens, within beautifully flourishing Jacaranda trees in violet and green. Observing. I am wondering how the ducks manage their weight being fed with ice- cream by the tourists every day. Most garden visitors are busy with their phones taking pictures – of themselves.
Perception of mind
4 teenagers with a selfie-stick take the 13th attempt to jump off the ground the same time. The phone drops. In the digital world, outdoor is fashion and a hype. Kind of a paradox.
In the beginning of the Millennium a ‚selfie’ was considered as a questionable act of narcissistic self-celebrating. Today the digital community embraces it as the portrait of ones achievements. Selfie on top of Machu Picchu. Upload. The competition is measured in followers. Anticipated social attention is the reward.
I found, most famous historical self- portraits do not focus on the background. Picasso, da Vinci, van Gogh. They just capture the expression of their faces. The underlying claim for the first iPhone in 2007 read ‘this changes everything’. Dear Steve Jobs, it did. It changed our culture, the way we relate to each other and how aware we are about our environmental and natural surroundings.
Change of scenery. 2016. I am sitting at YaHa-Tinda Ranch in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, approximately 4.5h driving northwest of Calgary. The park rangers have a hard time to coordinate all the arriving cars at the trail head. I assume, we will not be alone on trail. Just 30min into the trail, it hits me. Most hikers follow the trail for 500m to reach a lookout with a beautiful glacier lake in the background. People stand in line to take a selfie snapshot with what nature displays in all its beauty. Then they get in their cars and drive back.
After 4 days of trekking into the BC wilderness, I haven’t seen my phone for 13 days. I sealed it in an envelope. I didn’t take a selfie with a bear. The guy next to me is a tribal leader of the First Nation Canada’s indigenous people. We are both grown guys. And we hold hands. Our eyes are closed. In a circle of 14 one of us was secretly chosen to be a predatory cat, the cougar. His task is to reflect his entire killer instinct, negative energy, to the person in the middle. The small rabbit. All other rabbits around the circle support him with positive energy. With eyes closed, he cannot rely on his vision. He turns around 4 times until I hear his steps whistling in the grass coming closer. I am ready to skin his fur. Suddenly he says ‘It is you, Seabass!’. We both open astonished our eyes. Ben stands not even half a meter in front of me, pointing with his finger right towards my chest. I respond, ‘how the heck can you know that?’ We trained to be in tune with the energies. After a week, we guessed it right at all times we played this game.
Barrier between us and life
The way we relate to each other, to our environment and to nature is created by sound, by touch, by smell, by seeing, by listening and by the energy that we reflect to our environment. It is not created by any digital device nor a selfie-stick. Our senses create awareness. Level of awareness makes us conscious. Humans claim consciousness as what sets them apart from all other species. Knowing about your own existence. When we die, we loose awareness, consciousness, existence and life. Nowadays we are not very aware of our environment. We are aware of our phones. So in fact, the phone creates a barrier – between us and life.
The research of Bratman et al. found that a 90min walk in a natural setting reduced negative self-related emotions and brain activity that contribute to mental health problems such as depression. A walk in an urban structure did not. By 2050 around 70% of us will live in urban areas. Now around 50% already do. The deep bond between human health and nature is not only visible through science. It is obvious. When we search for recreation, we tend to turn to green areas, coastlines, close to water. A lot of us take selfies there.
Next weekend when you spend your time in the park or in the countryside leave your phone at home. Get out. Look in. Unplug.
