“Before getting out of bed or even acknowledging anyone sharing it, you check your e-mail to see who will be setting your agenda, based on their needs, followed by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and voice mail. Ten seconds in, and already you’ve lost control over how you spend your day.

By the time you leave the house, your to-do list exceeds the days capacity and you’re living in a future set by someone else’s agenda. Every step along the way, your mind is somewhere else. Reacting to prompts, things other people tell you are important without ever stopping to ask whether they matter to you.

It’s gorgeous out, but you don’t notice. Your kid, partner, lover, or parent smells great, terrible, or fruity, but you don’t pick it up. You stop for coffee. Waiting in line, you check again. And it’s not just you. All heads are buried up their collective apps. The twentysomething woman sits at a corner table sketching, and her work is beautiful. Nobody sees it.”

– Jonathan Fields, How to Live a Good Life, soulful stories, surprising science and practical wisdom.