Cell phones, email, and constant news updates proclaim the digital world. In contrast, a farmer in rural Tennessee in the early part of the twentieth century recalled hearing of President McKinley’s assassination weeks after it happened.

In this second decade of the twenty-first century we are instantly bombarded with the tragedy of tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcano eruptions as well as terrorist attacks, mall shootings, and the actions of drunken drivers. If we do not exercise control over this deluge, it will control us. On one hand, we may become despondent and feel hopeless. Or we may become so used to suffering, that it no longer bothers us.

How control? Basically, by controlling the time we spend on them. An article in The Seattle Times by Ricardo Gomez, a professor at the University of Washington, and a recent graduate, Stacey Morrison, suggested that some are pushing back against the technology that binds them.

They state: “If we fail to make our own informed choices about use of technology, technology will make the decisions for us. . . . We can each take a stance. There’s no need to go cold turkey and drop out entirely . . . we can all do a better job at managing our use of technology to reclaim control over our time, our relationships and our daily lives.”