Longing for Slowness
In a world where everything seems to be speeding up, there’s something to be said for the slower pace of, say, 20 to 30 years ago. It’s something I was thinking about recently, and a few examples came to mind.
What about having to physically dial in before you could use the internet? Back when the internet still ran over the phone line, you actually had to swap cables to surf the web. And how about the dial-up sound, hoping the connection would go through on the first try. A lot of angry online messages might never have been sent if people had just taken a moment during that dial-up process to reflect, to pause and think about whether posting that message was really such a good idea.
Or meeting up with neighborhood friends: you had to go outside in all kinds of weather, head over to their house, ring the doorbell, and ask whichever parent answered whether your friend was home and had time to play. No quick WhatsApp message to check.
Waiting for the train is another example. These days, the entire platform stands hunched over, staring at phone screens. Back then, you’d still see people chatting with each other. Even if it was just about something as trivial as the weather, at least people talked. Really talked. Really listened to each other. Try finding that in today’s political landscape. I certainly haven’t seen much of it from our elected officials in the past few years.
A slower world might actually do us some good, now and then.