the dangers of living a simulated life

Lexington's Wally Carr, of "Wednesdays with Wally."

The 20th Century philosopher Alan Watts called television and movies “simulated life.” That quote and others like it led me down a path out of the simulation that many people call life. 

It was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made, some 23 years ago. The simulation would stop: I turned off my television. I unplugged it. And I gave it away.

There were a number of factors leading to this decision. For years, I loved watching the blue screens of televisions and computers (smartphones would have been on the list had they been commonplace). I enjoyed shows and especially watching Southeastern Conference college football. 

But staring at a screen was never entirely satisfying. It put life on pause. Watts was right. It’s simulated life and not the real thing. While you’re sitting there staring, in the back of your mind, there is the knowledge that there’s something better to do with your life. 

With that knowledge I did something about it. 

Wally Carr, an elderly man I helped care for back in the 1980s, was a great teacher on television’s lack of value. He didn’t own one. His major joys in life involved taking long walks outside, going to libraries, walking through parks and the local university’s arboretum.

Cicero wrote that “he who has a library and a garden lacks nothing.” (Literally, “Si hortum biblioteca habes, deerit nihil.”) Wally liked that quote, and repeated it often.  So Cicero — and Wally — were right.

And neither Cicero nor Wally watched television or used the Internet. Nor did Alan Watts. All three men lived noble and accomplished lives.

Many potentially noble and accomplished lives are being wasted. The people who could live them are sitting down, staring at screens, mouths slightly agape, and not doing anything constructive. Media consumers seem to be trying to drown out their inner voices telling them to get up and do something. 

You will never get back the viewing time you waste. If you, your family or your country don’t gain something from your use of that time, what good does it do?

Well, some people and corporations make money off of your use of viewing time. A lot of money.

Commercial time on video broadcasts earns big money for media companies. It is the nature of video, whether online or through an entertainment company to keep the viewer glued to the screen, because audiences are influenced by advertising.

The same can be said for websites. Advertising and clicks earn money. Websites encourage viewer to stay online, watching and absorbing, spending part of their lives being told how and where to spend their money. .

Television, internet companies and other media become parasites if we let them. They take, they get fat, and they give back little. Their purpose is to keep you glued to your screen and to eventually do what you’re told. 

And this is where my old friend Wally came in. Wally lived a life doing only those things that could better himself mentally, spiritually, and physically. 

For Wally, bettering himself involved thinking for himself. Reading, walking, thinking, meditating, these were the things that Wally did for a living. What a great example. On top of all this, Wally was satisfied. He was a happy man. 

Screen addicts are never satisfied.

So, now more than two decades after I turned off my television and gave it away, today’s media industries do even more to encourage people to spend more time being hypnotized by them. 

It’s way better to spend time with real humans - your friends and family. 

Use your time to be with real humans. Do real things, instead of gaming, viewing, or watching some stupid screen. 

Write, learn to cook, join a club, read ink-on-paper publications, study and spend time that benefits real, live human beings — not big media and big tech. My time includes friendships with a handful of farmers and ranchers in my area. I don’t watch the screen, unless I am using it to write, research or learn. It’s a happy life. 

Stay away from screens, even your smartphone, as much as possible. Don’t let AI-powered writing tools, such as the idiotic ChatGPT, do any of your thinking for you. Read books — REAL ink-on-paper — and exercise your brain.

Live a real life, make real friends, and do real research not guided by some algorithm. You’re destined to live a life independent of what a screen tells you to do -- or an AI-directed program, programmed by some big government or corporation.

Learn. Question, And think for yourself.

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