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I fear this may be longer than my usual 3-minute punch. I’ve wanted to write multiple entries over the past few weeks; however, free time has vanished and tiredness has increased, therefore kicking these to the curb.

The first one hit me when I was leaving the locker room at Equinox to go workout, holding only a resistance band. I felt naked. I checked both pockets. I gave myself a pat down. Then I chuckled and continued on. “Yes, Michael – it’s okay. You can workout without your iphone or ipad or headphones.”

And then I did a quick survey. Everyone else in the gym had at least one of those items, most with the usual iphone airpods combo as if it is replacing the Number 1 Big Mac at McDonald’s.

Have you ever been skinny dipping? I hope the answer is yes, but if the answer is no, I am passing zero judgement. I’ve been a handful of times. It was a strongly urged requirement at a pre-orientation program in the Outer Banks for us newcoming Dukies. It was at night, and outside of some tan lines, no one can see anything, and if you do, it all looks the same when you’re yelling and laughing. The plankton in the Outer Banks oceans has an illuminating effect so if you move around fast enough the ocean lights up. It’s awesome. But back to the skinny dipping. How good does it feel? And if you add in peeing while skinny dipping, it might be the best feeling in the world. Yes, sometimes my metaphors and analogies get out of control, and some are better than others, but right now, in modern society, us humans are so so so far away from skinny dipping. We don’t know what it’s like to be disconnected. There is Wi-Fi on regional buses in Vietnam. People are on their phone during taxiway and takeoff and hop on Wi-Fi as the plane ascends. Airplane mode used to be a thing. It’s not anymore. And for some reason, even when people are working out, producing endorphins, sweating, there’s still a desire to be plugged in. To text. To watch. To scroll.

At some point in our evolution, we didn’t have clothes. And I understand the importance of clothes; however, we all need to appreciate how amazing we are without clothes and without devices. We are still incredibly powerful. Sit in that and metaphorically try to get more naked more often.

My second post was above movement, coincidentally enough. I had a chance to go to a basketball class in Chicago the other night. For us ball players (I think I’m a ballplayer), you know the feeling of getting a new Wilson leather ball in your hand and palming it; dribbling it around a freshly clean hardwood court. It’s a wonderful feeling. And given it had been months since I’d been able to have one in my hands, it was euphoric. The drills that ensued and the hunched over nature created by some of the drills reminded me the importance of sweating. And what a real workout is vs. a workout. Your body works while your mind relaxes – the most important combination out there.

Which of course relates to how people refuse to let their mind relax; or said a different way, people think they are relaxing when they are scrolling, texting, or doing whatever on their phones – in the middle of sets at the gym or anywhere else. They are not.

I’m on a flight right now – the person ahead of me is 6’4 and his seat is absolutely hammering my knees so my chicken winged elbows are nudging things they shouldn’t be nudging. We were on the tarmac for about 45 minutes. At least. But you know what – nobody gave a flying fuck – excuse my alliteration. Because you know why – everyone was doing the same thing they do every day anyway. Starting into the sea of pixels that make up the 5 inch iPhone. No talking. No “where are you from?” No joking about the lengthy delay. I mean, shit, even in like 2015, I think I got a girls number on a flight simply by having a conversation – “oh that’s funny, you know my friend who went to school there – yea, I grew up with that person…” … a conversation. A word that has been removed from many of our vocabularies.

But nope, why should you talk to someone (new)? Why should you do anything different? All you’re doing is texting the same people you texted all day, scrolling the same scrolls you’ve done all day, watching the same shows, and not really caring that we’re sitting on the tarmac outside of the fact that we’re sitting on the tarmac.

You could say I am a broken record. The problem is, the record in the record player only keeps spinning faster. There are slowly starting to be resources that explain the horrible situation we are putting ourselves in. But the damage has been done. My mom (sorry Mom) is texting me getting upset because I haven’t texted her back in 2 hours. 2 hours! And some I’m sure get nervous if someone doesn’t text you back after 2 minutes. Our patience meter has gone from 75 to a 2 on the 100 point scale.

You know what would solve this – we all go back in time. And wear less clothing. And be together without phones. And chat. And love. And argue. And talk. And dance. And live.

We are creating a generation that is more focused on tweets and pictures and drama than on their own self-betterment. Than on their own body and mind. And how to really remember and understand what you are. Not what everything else is.