This was a week of two halves. As I was going to be out of the office for two days with no time to look at work emails, I increased my workload between Monday and Wednesday. Although I managed to achieve most of what I had prioritised, I was still left with many emails to answer and a few unfinished projects. This led me to consider the ‘information overload’ that most of us experience on a daily basis. The video ‘This Panda is Dancing’ is a lighthearted take on the always-on culture. More seriously, the short YouTube video ‘4 Harmful Side-effects of Information Overload’ then took me to an interview with Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism which is my ‘Book of the Week’. I bought it to read at the airport and on the flight. It was a timely purchase as my working visit to Vienna meant that I would have a change to ‘digitally detox’ for a few days.
Although I had a full schedule, my time was spent in face-to-face meetings in different parts of the city. At meal times, in busy cafes and restaurants, I could count on one-hand the number of people using mobile devices. The human interaction that lies at the heart of Viennese coffee culture has been recognised by UNESCO which placed the city’s cafes on its ‘National Agency for Intangible Cultural Heritage’ list.
My two days as a digital minimalist were revitalising. A final Saturday morning was spent at the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) whose App made my visit, and also at the Belvedere Palace. As my visit coincided with the end of Vienna’s Ball Season, my final post is a video recording of ‘Un Bal’, the second movement of Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie Fantastique’.