Screen Vision

It's not hard to have tunnel vision, or, in the case of those of us who look at screens most of the day, screen vision. When we are focused all day, every day on what we see and do on the screen in front of us, we spend many hours thinking of not much else, and the hours after that unable to think of much else.
 
Yet, every so often, when we take a break from our daily screen routine, we are able to see a little farther. Whether it is a conversation with a person we rarely see, or a newspaper article that provides some inspiration, or a little observation while we ride a bus, time away from our normally narrow range of vision enables us to see things that might seem obvious, but have eluded us as we look straight ahead.
 
There's nothing wrong with staying focused on our daily tasks, those things literally or figuratively in our "screen vision." But doing more than just getting through our days requires a little more. It requires that we look away, that we open our range of vision a little wider, so that we see and hear more than just what's right in front of us. It might be that we get a different perspective on the news when we talk to someone about it, rather than just reading or watching updates.  It might be that we discover a gem in our career development not from scouring a job board or keeping our nose to the grindstone, but from reconnecting with a friend. It's not about denying the usefulness of our screens, for work or otherwise. It's simply about turning away long enough to see things from a slightly different perspective.
 
So when you're done reading this, take a look around you, even just a little to the right, a little to the left. You never know--it may give you a whole new perspective.