Immediately after reading the October 4 blog post by René on prepping for the imminent Zombie Apocalypse, I started to mentally locate where I’d left some of the essential safety items that I already own as well as create a tentative shopping list. However, sometime later, I started to reflect on zombies in general – why are they so popular right now? Why so much hype about them in movies, TV, and popular culture at large right now? Are Zombies real? Am I one?!
The answer is yes, but maybe not how you might think. There is, in fact, a condition called Cotard’s Syndrome, also known as Walking Corpse Syndrome, in which people believe they are dead, dying, decaying, disappearing, or just generally in a bad way (eating brains, however, has not been listed as a symptom at this time). Now, I’m not quite that far gone. However, after staring at computer screens at work all day, every day, and then going home to use my own computer to pay bills online, check my emails, find a dinner recipe, and all the other normal life things that are nowadays electronically mediated, I start to feel pretty zombified myself. And I know I’m not alone. I’m afraid that pretty soon, we’ll lose the chance to be disconnected at all. Our Bluetooth device will be permanently attached to our heads like Lobot from Bespin.
…Computer Vision Syndrome, or CVS. The American Optometric Association describes it as “a group of eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged computer use.”
We’re all at risk of becoming Zombies of the Digital Age.
Any of this sound familiar? Some have recently dubbed it “Busy Life Syndrome,” characterized by forgetting names, appointments, and other ordinary things each day. Maybe you can think of someone you love with whom it’s getting more difficult to have a normal conversation, or you’re becoming all too familiar with the top of their head as they’re constantly hunched over a portable electronic device. Well, it’s time for a break – time to moderate the brain-numbing, time to unplug for a while.
Even though Newegg wants to keep you electronically and digitally up-to-date, we also want you to unplug once in a while. Go outside. Break out the camping gear or just go for a day-hike. Just in case you’re not ready to go so far from the web-womb, hook up a Wi-Fi range extender and at least let your laptop get some sunshine while you relax on the patio in a rocker. Ditch the microwave and throw a steak on a grill or smoker. Can’t remember how to enjoy the outdoors anymore? Watch your kids scurry around like little hamsters on the lawn in these Mega Cubes and Tubes – that might help. Consider setting up a romantic evening outside with some solar-powered string lights, a small firepit, and some music.
We hope you get lots of tweets…from actual birds.
