3 Ways to Stop Living Vicariously Through Technology

3 Ways to Stop Living Vicariously Through Technology

 Image courtesy of jonrawlinson on Flickr

As technology continues to improve, it is becoming easier than ever for us to live vicariously through the creations of others. Living vicariously through technology is “watching instead of doing.” An example is getting home from work and deciding to watch television or Youtube videos instead of creating something of your own. It is stagnating¹ during your free time instead of growing. This is a bad habit, but luckily there are some ways around it.

The leisure industry counts on you being lazy and stagnating- that’s how they make their money:

The tremendous leisure industry that has arisen in the last few generations has been designed to help fill free time with enjoyable experiences. Nevertheless, instead of using our physical and mental resources to experience flow, most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated² athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum³ records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction⁴. We do not run risks acting⁵ on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

So you have two choices- you can either 1) continue stagnating, giving your money and free time to the leisure industry, or 2) use your free time to grow. If you chose option 2, here are three ways to get started.

3 Ways to Stop Living Vicariously Through Technology

1. Create your own damn content!

Everyone loves free content on the Internet. The reality is, only 1-2% of website visitors actually contribute content. For example, about 1-2% of Wikipedia visitors actually contribute to the site (according to Yochai Benkler's The Wealth of Networks, as of 2005).

You can change this, and grow along the way - if you have a valuable opinion, or are an expert on a subject, why not share it with others? You might be surprised how much feedback you start getting, how many interesting people you meet along the way, and how good it feels to contribute to a greater cause.

Examples: Start a blog, create videos on Youtube, create an article at Wikipedia, create a new recipe for a meal.

2. Don’t want to create? At least contribute.

If you don’t want to create your own content, you can still grow and help support online communities by contributing feedback, comments, and ratings to websites. Providing feedback to other’s content is critical to the continued success of social media. For example, I love getting comments on my blog- whether they are positive or negative, feedback is better than no feedback. It lets me know people are reading what I post, and helps me improve if someone mentions a critical piece of information missing in my post.

Examples: Comment on a blog post, rate a Youtube video, edit a spelling error on a Wikipedia article.

3. Stop using technology so much

Get away from your computer/television/PDA. It’s healthy to create a daily ritual of “disconnecting” from your computer, and there are plenty of ways to grow without technology. Who knows- you might even get a workout along the way.

Examples: Play a sport, play an instrument, create art, create music, exercise, join an improvisation⁶ group.

These are just a few examples, use your imagination to come up with more. The point is- don’t live vicariously through technology or you will stagnate⁷. Use your free time to create and grow, and you will find yourself living a more meaningful life.

1 stagnating   

v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I feel I'm stagnating in this job. 我觉得，干这份工作我没有长进。
• ITT was stagnating when Geneen became the chief executive officer in 1959. 1959年吉宁出任行政总负责人时，国际电话电报公司正处于不景气时期。 来自辞典例句

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

4 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

7 stagnate   

v.停止

参考例句：

• Where the masses are not roused,work will stagnate.哪里不发动群众，哪里的工作就死气沉沉。
• Taiwan's economy is likely to stagnate for a long time to come.台湾经济很可能会停滞很长一段时间。