Thursday, 22 August 2013

Disconnecting to reconnect...


I lost my smartphone a couple of weeks ago.  Somewhere between Pokhara and Kathmandu.  Several flights and a few cities gave me every chance to replace it.  I haven't yet.

Those close to me know I'm not always easy to contact anyway.  Remote locations often one reason but a willingness to push hard on the off button is often the case.  I started using Facebook about eighteen months ago but took it off my phone fairly quickly.

It's fun sending a tweet when I see a tiger.  It's not really necessary though.

When I'm interviewing someone, like Raj here in the Annapurna range of Nepal, I make every effort to remember key points and write them in my notebook after the talk has finished.  Most of the time these conversations revolve around human/wildlife conflict issues so I'm totally engrossed anyway.  I've had a lot of training, great mentors and years of experience in these situations so I don't really have excuses for not getting it right.  Sometimes if I feel a key point needs writing down immediately I'll do it but I'll do it quickly.  I don't use a voice recorder (unless the guy's a criminal but that's another story) as I want the conversation to be as natural and easy as possible.

Often whoever I'm talking to will have suffered a serious loss of some sort so there will be emotion.  It's important to retain the rapport in these situations.  The depth of the connection has a direct correlation to the value of the information I'll get.  Sometimes the connection can take a while but good prior research, a strong understanding of the environment we're in and above all empathy regarding the issues mean a strong interview, a positive result.

There's no point walking for hours up mountains or through jungles for anything less than a positive result.

Technology has given us great tools but it has also altered the way we connect.  Yeah, I will have to replace that smartphone at some stage but right now I'm valuing being without it.  I'm enjoying not having the distraction.  If I'm in the bush I want to be totally absorbed, aware of what's going on around me, in a natural way.  Yes, I'll have camera gear and yes most nights I will be back at my laptop.

To be really in the moment however, to really connect to nature, or to someone like Raj, a smartphone is simply not necessary.

I wouldn't swap those connections for the world.

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