The curse of the digital age

What does it mean to construct digital worlds when the actual world is crumbling before our eyes?

A few months back I read Jenny Odell’s book “How to do nothing” and this question, appearing in the first pages of the introduction, really stuck with me.

The book first grabbed my attention on a rainy afternoon, when I didn’t have much work to do with lockdown restrictions still being in place. I opted for going to my favourite local bookstore to have a browse. The book has a very compelling cover. Even though pink and flowers are two things I adore, this was not the reason I was pulled towards it. What made me stop was the title.

I have a tendency to overdo everything. Even simple things like buying too many products at the grocery store, piling too many books in my to-be-read pile, signing up for too many classes. I always feel this bizarre need to keep myself busy and to learn, to achieve, to be prepared for all possible outcomes of all possible scenarios that emerge during my overthinking sessions. So I assumed this book would give me a piece of advice how to stop and just take a breath. And then, probably for the first time ever, I thought I’d be “sensible” and not add yet another item to my huge unread book stack. So I decided not to get it straight away.