My Hero Doesn't Wear A Watch

This weekend, I had the good fortune to hear Pico Iyer read from his latest book, Autumn Light. He is one of our time’s preeminent travel writers, and I’ve been a fan of his work for many years. Somewhere along the way, in an article he’d written or an interview he’d given, I’d learned that he has quite an unusual relationship with modern technology, i.e. the internet. During the Q&A part of the reading, I decided to ask him about it. 

He answered with a laugh. “I’m afraid my relationship with the internet has not evolved. I’m in the 12th century moving towards the 11th.”

He went on to confirm that he has never owned a cell phone and has no intention to ever do so—a proclamation that was met with a resounding round of applause from the crowd. In the early 90’s, he moved from midtown Manhattan to Japan in an effort to “live where every day would have a thousand hours”; he was seeking a spaciousness that had evaded him thus far. He loved his hectic life in Manhattan, but with so much stimulation coming at him constantly, he found it hard to sit still and gauge his own happiness. He was searching for a more intimate happiness, and he found that in Japan.

The first thing he does when he lands in Japan is take off his watch; in this somewhat monastic existence, he needn’t be beholden to the hands of a clock. In the small apartment he shares with his wife (a delightful woman who was at the reading, too), life is slow-moving. They have no television or access to media. They don’t own a car or a bike. And yet, this man is a world-renowned journalist admired for his astute reflections on the global world we inhabit.

In moving to Japan, Pico Iyer made the conscious decision to put freedom and time above security.

When he wakes, he spends 5 hours writing longhand at his desk. During the book signing, he told me that there isn’t even a computer screen anywhere in the vicinity of his writing desk. He says that looking at a small screen makes him unable to see the larger picture.

After writing, he takes a long walk and then reads—a deep, replenishing experience during which he engages in a literary conversation with other writers. After that, he plays ping pong at the health club across the street and then answers his emails, a task that he keeps to a minimum amount of time.

“If I had twenty messages coming in at every moment,” he said to the packed crowd, “I wouldn’t be able to give myself to the people around me. I’d much rather have a three hour conversation with a friend than sixty 3-minute conversations.”

This struck me to the core. I’m someone who has dozens of messages streaming in throughout the day, and although my phone doesn’t buzz with notifications, my attention feels splintered. According to a study by the University of California Irvine, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to recover from an interruption and re-focus on the task at hand.  Given the frequent interruptions that we face throughout the day, it’s wild to think about how many hours that adds up to in which we are not able to focus.

He was adorably self-deprecating, telling the crowd that his was “an eccentric choice” that he “wouldn’t recommend to anyone” and proclaiming that his wife was a “normal human” because she owned a cell phone. But it made me wonder: what is “normal” anymore? Is it normal to be attached to a handheld device, a willing prisoner held hostage by this beacon of communication and information?

My husband and I are moving to Puerto Rico in a few weeks, and I’ve begun to imagine what this new start could look like – a blank state, a new beginning, a chance to implement some healthy habits when it comes to technology. I’ve been toying with the idea of discarding my smartphone to return to my flip phone ways of yore. When I told my husband about my idea, he scoffed. “You just need more discipline,” he said, and of course he’s right. But perhaps there are those of us who can happily co-exist with handheld devices and the distractions they provide, and those of us—like me and Pico—who’d rather not.


 

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