Maggie Spencer-Pick - reflection on "Homelessness Countering the Destruction of Home" 9/26

 This reading brought about really interesting ideas about the ways we exist within our home. Generally, I feel like quite a few people have acknowledged the damaging effects technology has had on our relationships and state of being. Many people have televisions in their bedrooms, which scientists are now saying can damage their sleep patterns, cause anxiety, and even impact the sensual relationships with a partner that shares the room. Bedrooms should be for sleep- not watching tv or eating or working. However, I feel like escaping from technology in certain spaces is extremely difficult for college students. Personally, I do almost all of my homework in my room, and I often eat there too because of the work I'm busy doing. In many ways, I am also very separate from my environment. I don't garden or harvest my own food, and to be honest, it's sometimes hard to even find time to spend outside. While I live at home with my parents, many people in college live in dorms. All of this together can often lead to a semi-liminal experience of college students, of often not really feeling "home", even if they're in their dorms or at their parents house. Even during, say, Thanksgiving break, when my family is over, I'm often on my laptop doing homework or studying and not fully present with my family. Most of my time spent with my partner, who is also in school, is spent on our various technologies doing work. 

Often, it feels increasingly difficult to find ways to connect and communicate with the world and people around us. Some people have even reverted to living in modern communes, or moving out into the forest in a basic living space to try to return to this state of existence with less of an impact on their lives from technology. However, this is really hard for every single person to do. We are stuck in the means of economy that demands the highest return. In what ways can the return to sensuous communicated be further incorporated into our lives, even if we still need to use a lot of technology and have more limited interactions with the environment? Say, how would a college student do that? How would an adult working a 9-5 do that? How about a mother with small kids? I fully understand the benefits of the liminal, wilderness journey. But how can we change the overall nature of how we live our lives in the ways necessitated by a capitalist economy to better sensually communicate with one another?