084 - That There’s No Cellular in West Texas

Today I learned that when I was driving through and overnighting in West Texas, I had zero cell service at all. (Verizon. AT&T had service, so you can sort of ignore this if you’re with AT&T and want to be a stickler.) Being disconnected anywhere in the modern world surprised me, but it was also pretty cool. It made me realize how rare and valuable true disconnection has become in our always-online society.

The creative lesson I took from this Noticing is the narrative power of disconnection in a hyper-connected world. In a book, placing characters in situations where they're cut off from their usual digital lifelines can lead to profound self-discovery and character development. (BTDubs, we did this in our future-world story of The Beam. When the superconnected Beam goes out, people freak out and sometimes commit suicide.) And hey, that ignores how good *I* felt not having that digital leash all the time! The whole thing struck me as a reminder of the depth and introspection that you can still get simply by unplugging.

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