Disconnect to Reconnect
This Summer I made a decision to have a two week technology free zone during my holiday. No mobile, laptop or tablet. It was very old school but fantastic! Those who really needed me in an emergency could have tracked me down and left a message via the landline of where I was staying but nobody did. It was great, made the holiday much more relaxed without the digital distractions and I slept much better too. The only rays I was exposed to was the sun! I'm delighted to say I was not alone as the kids joined in, although they did get the odd cartoon fix of an evening on the TV.
Amusingly it did make us all very aware of how people are constantly glued to devices to a point where they were often missing things right in front of them. For actors or indeed as a director, the power of observation is vital and being aware of your surroundings being able to interact and respond to what you hear and see is essential.
It got me thinking, as we always tell our acting students that acting is about listening, perhaps as people become more distracted by digital distractions, they'll become more closed and insular making the training of actors harder in the future? Who knows?
