A Life You Can Hold With Your Hands

On the importance of crafting + creation in a digital age.

“Georgia O’Keeffe - Hands and Horse Skull” by Alfred Stieglitz, 1931

I’ve come to realize that part of my “authentic code” is building and nurturing a life that is handmade. A life where there is a story behind every odd armchair in the house. Where you can feel the love stitched right into your sweater. Where the scratches on the floorboards remind you of all the feet (and paws) that have danced happily through your home.

A life that you can reach out and grab with two hands.

With the advent of the digital age and rapid expansion of AI technology, I find myself needing to fight a little harder to keep these cherished analogue elements of my life alive and well. An innocent creative inquiry turns into a “quick” Google search - then 30+ minutes later I’ve found myself lost down another digital rabbit hole, checking emails, messages, and feeds, quickly justified by the thought that “I might as well while I’m online.”

But in reality, I am rarely ever fully offline.

My smartphone goes with me everywhere I go. And in the off chance it is left behind - I am likely still surrounded by a sea of them in the pockets and handbags of those nearby (so if I really needed to go online I could). And just the fact of knowing this, keeps me mentally online, even when I’m technically “offline”.

While there is a part of me that grieves for the more analogue days of my youth and yore, I have learned to accept the fact that, in this day and age, technology is an engrained part of life. Of course I love certain aspects of tech too (who doesn’t love sharing pics and texts with friends instantly or streaming their favorite movies/shows from bed??) Not to mention I would be, quite literally, lost without it (thank you Google maps!) But with technology only becoming more and more efficient and convenient at doing, well, almost anything for us…and then watching this become the new norm everywhere I go…I’ve become increasingly aware of how tech continues to push my analogue daydreams to the wayside. And how important offline time really is.

I remember being the last person in my friend circle to *finally* get a smartphone. As exciting, and somewhat necessary, as the transition was, I didn’t realize the impact it would have on my life. And how much of my attention it was going to take.

Aside from the common cautions that too much screen time can be bad for your eyes, the first real “wake up” call I had to the effects of technology came shortly after I got my first smartphone. I encountered an academic article online (I did a brief scour to try and find the source again but I had no luck so you’ll just have to take my word on this…) which discussed new findings on the effects of touch screen technology. And it concluded that not only do humans become desensitized to feeling human touch after excessive touch screen use, but we become more attracted to touch screen use instead of human touch over time and technological habituation.

So we become more inclined to have our fingertips glide repeatedly over our smooth smartphone screens than we do to hold hands with a loved one, reach out to a friend for a hug, or even respond to someone tapping our shoulder on the plane.

Reading this article at the time stopped me in my tracks, mouth agape, feeling simultaneously disgusted by the device in my hands and in sheer awe of it.

As the years have rambled on, and using my smartphone has inevitably become second nature, I have had to strive to be more deliberate with my online and offline time. (However, despite my best intentions, my eye strain is often the “canary” that alerts me first that I need a screen break.) In a recent attempt to better remedy my screen time habits, I happened to recall that aforementioned article on touch sensitivity and realized that what I was really craving in those moments when I absentmindedly pick up my phone was to make contact with something. To make contact with life and create some sort of feeling through my fingertips.

But I don’t really need my phone to make contact with life. I just need my hands.

And I don’t need to rely on my phone to create something for me, I can actually create it myself.

After I had this mini epiphany, I let my mind track back to my pre-smartphone college knitting days (yes, I had a knitting phase in college…and yes, I still had friends!) In between papers, classes, and parties, I devoted myself to knitting (and sewing in general). It was the perfect fixation for my overactive academic mind. It was fun, stress-soothing, and I was able to create something from it. Something I made with my own two hands.

Did I ever become an expert knitter? No. But there was something so gratifying about reclaiming my free time to, first, learn something new, and then, create something new. I didn’t want AI to knit a pair of socks for me, I wanted to do it myself. And even though it took me much longer than a machine to do so, the experience and end reward was beyond worth it.

So in light of this remembered gratification, I have re-introduced crafting into my life. I decided to try my hand at weaving first and recently created a simple and beautiful little linen cord basket. As I was weaving, I remembered the second most gratifying thing about making something with your hands: you can thoughtfully gift your creation to someone you think would appreciate it when you’re done. As someone whose love language is gifting, it brings me as much joy to create something with my hands as it does to pass it along to someone else’s hands (especially when they are my grandmother’s).

Creating a life that you can hold in your hands is important.

But not just a life held in your smartphone. A life that is built in connection with all of the world around you. Not just a metaverse, but a physical, real life with relics and treasures. A life that you can say you’ve built yourself and you’ve left your mark on. A life that you took the time to love into creation.

When was the last time you created something with your hands?

xx

Heather