Practice on "Having an Offline" While Online

Have something to eat while working at your computer. This may be nothing new for you.(I certainly can’t pretend I don’t do this. That delicious coffee- house Hot Peppermint Mocha three computers ago? Well, it had a solidifying effect under the keys of that laptop. An expensive wintertime treat!)

• First, eat and work — just like always.
• Then, just eat, don’t work — just for a few moments. Leave the computerside, and eat the part of the meal that is least appealing to you.
• Return to the computer, perhaps still finishing your meal or snack. Or, if you’re done already, add something physical (and reasonably low-tech) to your life at your keyboard: Place a table fan so that it blows directly at you. Wear a tight hat or two different shoes. Work with someone on your lap.
• How would you describe where in your body the call to keep typing and gazing at the screen resides? Where do the other bodily sensations you’ve set up for yourself reside? With multitasking increasingly being recognized as an illusion — as just the rapid switching between single tasks — which of these sensations are getting more airtime with you?

Variation: Have a meal over Skype with a distant relative or friend. What can you tell about how the food tastes to them?

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