What will it cost humanity as tech feels more and more like home?

An exploration on the meaning of home and accepting I feel "at home" at my desk

Digitally Exhausted came to be because I wanted a place to share my thoughts on tech’s societal impact. My writing covers social media’s spaghetti-like complexities, the curiosities of BIG tech, and why digital self-care is just as important as eating your vegetables.

Home is a feeling, not a place. It took me until my early twenties to come to this AH-HA moment and longer, until my mid-twenties, to find the people and things that have this feeling of home.

Two weeks ago, I had a homey sensation at a new, bizarre place: my desk. I was taken aback.

A desk equals work. We are taught this as little chick-a-dees in school, starting out with drawing the letters of the alphabet, advancing to Geometrical proofs, to eventually end up at an “adult” desk. 

For the majority of adults—if y’all would be so kind as to let me rudely assume an aspect of your work—staring at a screen is a key part of what you do to get the job done. This is a new normal.

If looking at a screen is not part of your work, what do you do?

Work does not have a good connotation all of the time because there are a lot of people who hate what they do—but money needs to be made to pay the bills, so of course, people stay at a job that doesn’t feed their soul so they can survive (feed their bellies) and pay for expenses. Even if you love what you do, “there is always going to be something you don’t like about your job”, a statement my Uncle David made years ago that is ingrained in my long-term memory. But he’s right! You can have your dream job as a dance teacher, painter, archeologist, YouTuber, etc., and hate doing admin, cleaning bristles and pallets, finding funding, the influencer microscope. C’est la vie!

This feeling of home at my desk happened after I got back from a swing dance holiday in Portugal. This happened one other time, also after a holiday, but I dismissed the feeling and instead identified it as a sense of relief to finally being back, settled, and catching up on work; I was back in my routine.

But I kept asking myself “What does home feel like?”

It’s a sense of safety, joy, comfort, and contentment. I’ve known this but I never named the feelings of what “home” is for me.

I was annoyed at myself for feeling “at home” at my desk because part of me hates the amount of time I look at my laptop and monitor screens. To have a place where I sit for long periods of time looking at pixels—which is quite draining sometimes— to get work done feels odd. I’d rather be lindy hopping to jazzy swing tunes or in the studio practicing tap all day. Again… C’est la vie.

Now, it makes sense.

At my desk with all my knick-knacks and diddley’s, I feel comfort and joy—reminding me of my itty bitty days when the teacher would tape a laminated card with my name on it to mark my place where the learning would happen for the year.

Our desk is where the magic happens; ideas are born, projects progress, and knowledge grows.

The blocks of aluminum we carry every day can also provide a feeling of home. Phones connect us with loved ones, they’re time capsules of treasured memories and ones we’d rather forget, cortisol inducers, health trackers, planners to keep us “on schedule”, and even, volts to our earnings. Phones (technology!) are tools to make life easier; however, they can come at a cost even the richest cannot buy: time.

Time is a resource no one can get back. It’s a luxury to be the captain of your time, choosing where to allot every minute of every day. But does anyone truly have this?

We have obligations. Attention is needed to pursue work and achieve goals. Technology—the phone on your desk—lassos your time when you may or may not want it to.

My dear reader, I will leave you with a question: what will it cost humanity as tech feels more and more like home?

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Currently, digitally exhausted with…

The U.S. government focusing on the potential harms of adolescents, and general users, becoming addicted to TikTok.

What about social media applications with similar features?

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Wherever you are, be there ✨

Galway’s blue skies this week. If I can enjoy a slow morning at home, I open the back door—a stand-in for my southern soul craving a porch—and sip my morning brew.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Until next time,

Wherever you are, be there ✨

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P.S. I am offering FREE 30 minute digital wellness coaching sessions to Digitally Exhausted subscribers (well… anyone who reads this post 😊)

This is for individuals who want to…

- manage attention

- focus on tasks to be productive, not active

- be the captain of their time

- create work-life balance in a culture praising heavy workloads and an online-all-the-time mindset

🔗 Schedule: https://bit.ly/tasteofcoachingwithceline