Against Automation: Pause And Beauty

In many cases, the information processing that computers do has been compared to the processing that our brains do. The two systems have several memories in which they store the information and with specific regions dedicated to working with it. On the other hand, the digital age -the era of technology- has made us adopt some terms typical of computing to refer to our way of working.

Thus, we can say that the human being has entered the logic of automation. In fact, he has not only entered, but has allowed himself to be invaded by it. What does this mean? That first with commercialism, then with industrialization and more recently with the digital age , we have ended up mechanizing, simplifying and repeating processes so many times that most have ended up becoming routines. Thus, the clock marks conditionals and we respond like machines.

At the center of that transformation is the concept of time. It is one of the realities that has changed the most, practically becoming the axis of automation. The slogan of the human being is sometimes too similar to that of the machine:  produce more, in less time. Make the most of production time. Be faster in everything and discipline the time. All of this amounts to what some call “effectiveness” and “efficiency”, two great values ​​in today’s world.

The colonization of free time

One of the purposes of technology is supposed to be liberating man. Allow you not to spend so much time on mechanical tasks and have more free time. However, the same digital age has designed spaces and devices that, in one way or another, also ended up invading the moments of rest and leisure.

First it was the mass media. They broke into society as avenues of entertainment and facilitators for the circulation of information. The radio, or the cinema, the first media, were not there 24 hours, everywhere. Television , on the other hand, inaugurated another culture. It turned many human beings into passive consumers of entertainment.

With the digital age, the colonization of free time was consolidated and with it the automation of the human being. Reality is not seen through a screen, but we can interact with it in that virtual world, at any time and in any place.

Many free hours are spent on social networks, or going from here to there in cyberspace. Free time is also pre-formatted. At the same time, double standards promote and outlaw addictions. The industry, legal and illegal, generates an impressive amount of money with people’s “free” time.

Against automation, pause and beauty

We are less and less patient. Less able to get involved in realities that require working with difficulties and contradictions. Letting processes flow and conflicts being addressed and resolved works against automation. In this, what matters is to simplify and achieve observable results as soon as possible. This new way of reacting to reality is the effect of that passion for immediacy, speed and the desire to fill time with whatever it is.

The immediate produces pleasures and forms of happiness that are often fleeting. This way of experiencing life easily leads us to anxious states. It is as if we “swallow” the experiences, without savoring them. Also a way to increase the number of experiences, reducing their quality. Pausing and slowing down is a necessary condition to overcome automation, that is, that frenzied consumption of experiences.

Beauty is one of those highly rewarding experiences in life. Discover the beautiful in a word, in an act, in an idea, in a person or in any kind of reality full of happiness. However, the beautiful is not usually that which is captured at first glance. Quite the opposite. The truly beautiful takes its time to manifest. In turn, the beautiful has enormous power: full of life.

Automation is reflected in routines and in everything that is repeated incessantly. Words, ideas, actions, ways of doing, etc. Its most negative aspect is that it deprives us of genuine and deep experiences. It also removes the possibility of looking at reality from another point of view. It leads us to act without thinking or feeling intensely and eventually depresses or distresses us.