S04E067, Keep Checking With The Real World, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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When we spend too long staring at a computer screen we can end up being a little too deep in the Virtual World. It’s easy to be absorbed into what is virtual, missing the reality of the Real World.

Ever been watching your washing on the line, getting soaked by a downpour - while looking at an app on your phone that ells you there is 0% chance of rain that day? Maybe that’s just me.

Sure, I look at a weather radar website and see what the rain is doing real time, but I still stick my head out the door to check if it’s raining, or not. Wet head = rain!!

One day our middle son, Nathan, was out for a run. He had returned home, switched off his GPS, had a shower and was dressed with me starting to worry because I thought he had been out for a little too long past how long he said he’d be. Checking out a GPS app we all use to keep each other safe (and so I can stand with garage door open and a cup of fresh tea ready for Jo because it tells me when she is nearly home like the good husband I try to be) I was unable to find Nathan’s phone on the map. Nothing! Except the growing concern for where he might be.

Well, since he’d turned off his GPS 20 minutes earlier, that’s no real surprise! Jo found him by shouting up the stairs if he responded…clever woman my wife!

Sometimes we can miss what’s going on right in front of our faces because of what a computer program is telling us.

I once saw a powerful photo. The Queen was passing by an enthusiastic crowd of people in central London. It seemed that everybody in that crowd was holding a digital device of some sort, to take a permanent record of what was going on. Except for one wiser, older, lady who was standing there, simply gazing at the passing procession - with her own eyes and clearly enjoying every minute. The rest of the crowd only really got see a digital version as they held their phones in the air, eyes glued to their screens.

Let’s make sure we don’t miss the real world because of what ‘may’ be happening in the Virtual World. The Real World is SO much more enjoyable. Especially because it doesn’t updating, and won’t ever crash! It’s better than 4k, and has a surround sound system that will literally blow you away with colours we can only dream of. Or you know, actually see by looking at them with our own eyes.

And, despite many efforts, you still can’t virtually smell anything!!

Just a thought...

Andy B

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Transcript

0:00
So another Andy B 2 Minute Video. A little bit of a pause the last two weeks, been involved in all sorts of things, especially around computers. And I've been compressing video files to upload to Vimeo. And I've been copying stuff from YouTube, descriptions, into Vimeo and going on to our website then, and putting in the Vimeo video. I've spent loads of time fixing some parts of the website too, and changing how it works and set up. I've spent a lot of time in the last two weeks, stuck in a virtual world.

0:34
Nathan went out running one day and it had taken a bit longer than he usually does. And I was just at the point of a parent who is slightly concerned. He's been add a little bit too long now. He said it was gonna be this long. Now he's been that long and now I'm slightly worried.

0:53
But, as a family we invested, ages ago, in a GPS tracker thing. So every one of the five of us knows where every one of the five of us is. And it's brilliant for safety. We've used it quite a few times when Jo had a breakdown on a bike one day, and I just followed to the dot. Oh, there you go! She wasn't quite sure where she was in the middle of countryside. It's brilliant. It's a really good safety thing. And we love it as a family. Well, the boys use that when they're running Jo and I, if we're cycling, we use that. And it's great because we know where we all are. And really importantly, I know when Jo's about to get home, so that I can have the garage door open. We can have a cup of tea. The dinner's on its way. It's great, but it's virtual. And it doesn't tell you everything!

1:34
Now I was getting a bit worried. Jo was at home. Where's Nathan? We dunno where he is. He's gone for this run. He's gone missing. And then your mind starts to wander. And Jo said, 'well, why don't you check the GPS app thing?' So I did. And, it's like, well, I can't find him. His, his phone's switched off, and it doesn't give me any signal of where he is. So I'm starting to just be getting into this place of near panic. And Jo walks out the lounge, into the hallway. "Are you there, Nathan?" "Yeah. Been back ages. Had a shower."

2:06
Have you ever spent so much time in the virtual world you forget about the real world, that there is this difference between one and the other?

2:12
You ever check the weather forecast? 'It's not raining', and your washing is getting wet? 'Yes, but it tells me on my phone that it's not raining where I live right now'. Yeah, but the real world is raining.

2:24
And we have this disconnect, sometimes, between the virtual world and the real world. And what really struck me is if you are spending lots of time in the Virtual World, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, whatever, make sure you reconnect in the Real World because what might be actually going on in reality may not be going what's on what's going on virtually.

2:43
Just a thought.