D4 Holiday

Daily writing prompt

Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

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Several responses for this prompt came to mind. Ideas such as “Volunteer Day”, “Dine With Neighbors Day”, even “Neighborhood Beautification Day” were all competing to be the chosen topic.

Then yet again, once fingers touched keys my mind immediately diverted.

There is no better drug dealer on Earth than our portable electronic devices. In an instant, we have access to more information than we could possibly consume in multiple lifetimes… and as time goes by, that information appears to be decreasing in quality while increasing in quantity – Data engineered to fragment the population into smaller, more manageable compartments by those in power.

Our digital spouse. No one spends more time elbow deep in our lives than our personal electronic devices.

We not only give our most private information to total strangers in order to receive our digital fix, we literally pay them for the privilege of 24×7 access. While you may be told your information is not shared or sold, you would be dangerously naive to believe that either the company has not found a work-around or has secured your data well enough that hackers could not find it. I can almost guarantee you that your personal data is on the dark web as you read this.

In an instant, entities across the globe know as much about you as you do yourself… and will sell it to the highest bidder.

1. Physical location
2. Who you’re with
3. Desires
4. Address
5. Phone number
6. Contact list
7. Bank info
8. Friends
9. Family
10. Business connections
11. Favorite foods
12. Hobbies

With all that being said, the holiday I would invent would be Dump Digital Distractions Day (D4 Holiday). From dawn to dusk, people would turn off their digital umbilical cords and take time to show interest in the world around them as they see it through their own eyes and not funneled through the Internet or camera lens.

For endless hours, we blindly stare into a digital oblivion searching for the unlimited distractions that await our attention. Pornography to puppies. Feel-good to F*k you. Those who love the world. Others who want to watch it burn.

At minimum, the 4D holiday would challenge humanity to endure roughly 12 hours of living life outside the hive mind. Watch a sunset without having the need to share it with people who mostly don’t care. Enjoy a meal that doesn’t need likes and follows on Insta. Enjoy a barefoot walk in the park without your blind reaction video to walking bare feet on blades of grass in a public park.

Do I believe a single day would make a difference? Not even a measurable dent. Addictions run deep and haunt us forever… But sometimes all it takes is that tiny nugget of enticement to burrow into your brain and nag at you to make a change for the chance at something better – and it is my belief that life unplugged from the global stage is an immeasurably happier place.