In this age of speed, instant answers and quick snippets of information, I long for slower. A pot of soup simmering on the stove all day instead of dinner that arrived in a paper bag at my doorstep. I want to hold a real book in my hands. Turn the pages with anticipation. Opening it up where the flowered bookmark (a gift from my mom) holds my place. Or even a haphazard receipt slipped in between the pages. I want to live more of an analog life. One where I experience life with my five senses instead of just observing it on a screen.

I don’t know about you, but I have spent the vast majority of my adult life in a hurry. I would rush through my morning coffee to get to work. Then I would rush home from work to, well, get home and relax. But there wasn’t much relaxing because there was dinner to start, a load of wash to run, dishes to wash, lunch to pack and clothes to set out for work the next day. The cycle just went up a hundred decibels once we had children. With four boys, I was always hustling someone back and forth to practice, school or play dates. That load or two of wash a week turned into ten. Life became a series of hurry to get to the next thing that needed to be done.

Then the digital world came along, and it just added fuel to the hurry fire. We could get information instantly. At first, it was just an innocuous big, clunky box with sketchy internet. That evolved to better, smaller systems to now having everything at our fingertips. We tend to experience life through a few quick taps on a screen instead of being present to a real, slower, tactile life.

Now, after so many years of rushing through life, it takes conscious effort to slow down. But that is exactly what I am trying to do in retirement. Not so much that I rust, just a more conscious approach to life. Being more aware and alive. Experience more analog moments that help me savor the small details and be fully present. Less digital living and more White Space on the pages of my life.

What happened to time expanse?

After years of rushing, pushing and pulling through life, I lost my sense of time expanse. I forgot what it felt like to read a book during the day, have an extra cup of coffee and breathe in the view, or notice the cloud formations. I think that is why many retirees have a hard time relaxing into retirement. We feel like we should be using our time productively because we needed to for so many years. It is hard to turn off the productivity switch. But when you do…. oh it is wonderful. And you realize, THIS is what life is supposed to be like. And I want more of it. I want to live more of an analog life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the convenience of the digital world. Many marriages have been saved by Google Maps. Mr. U and I had our fair share of arguments as I poured over a Rand McNally map trying to translate directions. And I definitely could not live without my Kindle. Now that we live closer to town, getting a pizza delivered to my door is a real treat. I am not purist, I just think the scale has tipped a little too far into the digital world and I want to counterbalance it. I want to live with more time expanse again.

Counterbalancing a digital world

As with most of life, there is a balance. Too much digital time leaves me feeling anxious and impatient. I feel rushed through life. I noticed that I have a much shorter attention span than I used to. It is still early to determine the long-term effects of too much screen time. However, studies are consistent in confirming that What Excessive Screen Time Does to the Adult Brain is not good for our health. So, I am trying to counterbalance the overconsumption of a digital world with a more raw, real, analog lifestyle. It happens in small decisions:

Choosing the slow route. For starters, I rode my bike to the library, renewed my library card and wandered through the stacks, pulling out several interesting books to glance through. It was hard to narrow it down to just two to take home. I chatted with the friendly librarian while I checked out my treasures. If you need a good book that draws you back into analog living, read Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. It is heartwarming and reminds you of the good in people.

Putting pen to paper. Most blog posts start with a scratch of a pen on paper as I jot down thoughts in my journal, rather than tapping on a glowing screen. Writing is a peaceful endeavor. For me, thinking is clarified through the process of writing it down. I was one of those students that had to physically take notes in class in order to help imbed the material in my brain. Even back then, I instinctively knew I retained it better when I wrote it down. Now research is supporting that – Why Writing Things Down Makes You Smarter (The Science Explained).

Stop the default. What do most of us do when we are standing in line at the grocery store, waiting at the doctor’s office, or, worse yet, sitting at a stop light? We grab our phones to entertain us mindlessly as we “kill time.” The average person checks their phone 205 times a day. I am trying to quit using my phone as an automatic default the minute I have some stagnate time. Instead, I observe life going on around me. Maybe strike up a conversation with the person behind me in line or offer a sincere compliment to the person sitting next to me. Does anyone else find it absurd that we can rub shoulders with a complete stranger on a plane for several hours and never even say “hello?”

Cooking from scratch. I am cooking from scratch more, using fresh ingredients. Cooking engages all of the senses. The aromas that fill the kitchen as ingredients sizzle are comforting. The chopping and stirring are a meditative form of self-care. The mixing, rising, punching and pushing of bread dough keeps my hands busy while my mind daydreams. You can get inspired from a cooking show, but you can’t smell the aroma, stir the onions simmering or savor that first taste.

Leave the phone home. I must be in nature to counteract the numbness of the digital world. Nature brings color, depth, dimension and surprise. It brings refreshment, heals fractures in my brain often created from living in the digital world, and brings me back to what is real and matters. I take my phone when I am outdoors, but only to capture photos.

Living more intentionally

The digital world is an amazing convenience that makes life quicker and easier in so many ways. But sometimes I get too dependent on it, and I forget how it feels to hold a book in my hands, to physically walk through a store and rub the fabric between my fingers, the anticipation of opening a colorful envelope with my name handwritten on the front or smell the aroma of a fresh batch of cookies being pulled out of the oven. There is something grounding about hands-on experiences that digital life often bypasses.

It is not a “throw the baby out with the bathwater” kind of decision for me. It is not removing everything digital in my life. I use my computer, Kindle and phone every day. It is a matter of being more intentional about how and when I use it. And definitely not using it as a default when I have open time.

I am choosing just a little more of an analog life. This allows me to be more present in each moment, reduce digital fatigue, restore my soul and foster deeper connections with people and nature. It also encourages mindfulness, creativity, and a sense of calm that often gets lost in our fast-paced, screen-filled lives. If this is for you, then join me in living a more analog life in a digital age.