Welcome to post four in my seven-post blog to keep the middle-aged mind sharp, given all the conveniences and shortcuts tempting us to hit pause on our own brains. These same things can also send our brains into overdrive. In today’s digital world, there is no escape from devices. They have become our empty vehicles on a never-ending highway to the hell of multitasking.

I am old enough to remember life with and without a smartphone. Before smartphones, we had to use the old cell phone keypads to type text messages. Who remembers cursing the number seven because it had four letters instead of three? God forbid you did not press it fast enough and typed the incorrect letter in your message. It was the Devil’s work.

With cell phones, there was no multitasking. We were either talking or texting. Because texting was a pain in the butt, and required our undivided attention, we chose to talk to each other. There was also no unlimited talk and text back then. You had to get to the point fast and off the phone to avoid racking charges. So, you paid attention. Not doing so would cost too much.

I am also old enough to remember having a job with and without a laptop. For a brief three-month period before I entered Consulting on April 26, 2004, I worked for a firm in New York City that did not issue me a laptop to take home and re-plug my brain into the Matrix. I consider myself very lucky to experience what it meant to “leave work at the office.”

Don’t get me wrong. I loved Consulting. I stayed in it for almost twenty years before switching gears two years ago. Little did I know, though, that my first laptop would become my first vehicle on the highway to the hell of multitasking. Over the next twenty years, I upgraded to vehicles that allowed me to do even more at the same time. But each vehicle remained empty.

If the road is long enough, sooner or later the lone road trip you started will become lonely. No matter how cool or fast the vehicle is, it will never share a meal with you. It can be used to communicate with others, but it will remain a conduit. It can be used to complete hundreds of tasks while on the road, but it will also become a reason to never get off the road.  

Over the last two years, I have avoided the multitasking highway to hell like a maniac. The mental health improvements from device detachment were worth the effort and discipline.

After twenty years, I miss the life that forced us to prioritize quality over quantity. A life without the words “I’m listening” from the person with eyes glued to a smartphone or a laptop instead of the human being with whom they are supposed to be having a conversation. A life without so much convenience that, eventually, human connections became inconvenient.

Disclaimer: This content is neither advice nor instruction. Medical or otherwise.