So how about all this technology?
You’re reading this blog on some kind of device so it can be all that bad can it?
I believe humans are very special and unique.
Quite amazing at adapting to any situation and quite innovative when there is a problem to solve.
I do believe that sometimes we come up with the wrong hypothesis and then create a whole lot of answers that become band aid solutions to the underlying issue.
Take a look at how transportation has evolved over centuries.
We have gone from walking and running to horse back riding, to carriages pulled by horses, to the model T or automobile. The automobile itself has evolved from four wheels, a chasis, and a steering wheel to ABS brakes, air conditioned, stereo system, etc etc to back up cameras.
Back up cameras…..
Why back up cameras?
How many accidents occur in this day and age because of our blindspot and how many blindspots have emerged from our inability to rotate our head and trunk.
What came first? The chicken or the egg?
I am going to turn on my record player, you know that broken one and say, as our general population’s posture has devolved so has our ability to check out blindspots.
If all we do is stare forward at a screen and downwards, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that we become fixated in these postural positions.
If you really would like to test my theory…
Look from side to side while lifting your shoulder blades up to your ears as you do. Try and rotate your trunk while in this position.
Goodluck.
When I was deep into body building I noticed that I couldn’t rotate my neck too well.
I had developed my traps so much that they were up by my ears.
As I reached over my right shoulder with my left hand, I had a limited ability to wash my upper back. My overdeveloped chest got in the way. I was rounded forward. This was before I really spent time on computers hunched over looking downwards. My body became more limited as technology evolved.
The more problematic pattern I created for myself for beach volleyball was the unfortunate outcome of passing balls that were outside of my body and over my shoulder. I lost rotation of my neck and trunk, I lost mobility and my beach game devolved.
As I watched high level players perform these passes with ease I began to search for a solution.
The wrong hypothesis was to avoid the over the shoulder passing “technique”.
I came up with the wrong answer and practiced it.
It worked but only against less mobile players.
The correct hypothesis was to restore the range of motion in my neck and trunk.
Work through the imbalances by lengthening my neck muscles then strengthening my back and oblique muscles.
There is always a time and place for everything we create.
It doesn’t mean you have to be complacent on relying on a back up camera.
If you are, you may lose the ability or better yet the desire to look from side to side.
All of us are going to age, it all depends on how you choose how to.
When I teach a class and we work on mobility in our neck I always joke around about the blindspot.
It’s not about deterring people to stay away from technology or becoming a luddite, it’s about providing a solution and encouraging confidence in their’s body’s ability to do every day tasks.
What if you restored your body to ideal posture and driving became easier. What if rotating your neck and trunk made you a better golfer? What if possessing a mobile, flexible body allowed you to spend more quality time with each other?
It’s not always about the outcomes but about the possibilites. Hope keeps our spirit alive and working towards a goal. Complacency and dependence is a slow path towards degenerating and giving up.
I rather hope than give up.