written by Mark Bunnell

In his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, a psychiatrist named Viktor Frankl described how he survived the Nazi death camps during World War II. Frankl uses his experience to argue that humanity’s true drive is not the pursuit of pleasure but rather is the pursuit of meaning. If he’s right and our primary drive is for meaning, then I’m curious as to what role physical interaction plays in this pursuit.

Can I find something meaningful if I don’t interact with it physically? The important question to ask first is whether or not I can actually interact with anything in a non-physical manner. When I think of a physical interaction, I tend to think of something that’s hands on—a hug, a punch, a high five, etc. But even a smile is some sort of physical interaction. Just seeing someone, since it involves my eyes and brain, still involves my physicality. Even imagination and cognition, the acts I tend to think of as purely mental, and therefore not physical, still utilize my brain and thus are actually physical as well. So even though we often talk about them as if they were distinct categories, mental and physical activities are inseparably intertwined.

It’s true that we don’t necessarily need a direct physical interaction with others to communicate or make a connection. I can communicate with someone based on a picture that they post or through text, but these interactions still contain a sliver of physicality to them. I still have to look at the screen and use my fingers to type.

But we haven’t fully bought into the idea that our physicality isn’t important. We just think that not all of it is important. We seem to be aware that these digital forms of “connection” aren’t the real thing. We can have a conversation over email, but it isn’t the same thing as talking in-person. Sending a hug emoji in a text is not the same thing as a real hug just as saying “I love you” isn’t the same over the phone as it is in person. And confronting someone over text, over the phone, and in person are all entirely different scenarios. Yet we still embrace these forms of communication in the name of efficiency.

We don’t seem to value physical interaction it if it’s inefficient, but we do if it’s pleasurable. For instance, we tend to consistently over-indulge in eating or having sex, yet at the same time we under-indulge in having real conversations. But even these physical activities, while they are good and meaningful in their proper places, can’t make up for neglecting the physicality in the rest of our lives.

We can’t escape the necessity of our physicality. Since we interact with the world around us via our physicality, can anything be fully meaningful in a physically stunted environment? Or can things only be partially meaningful, just a mere fraction of what they could be?

It feels like we’re lonelier and more disconnected than ever before--and studies show that we actually are. Could these be in part due to our embrace of digitality instead of physicality?

Even though there is always some sort of physicality in our interactions, it’s been (and continues to be) intentionally abbreviated in the name of efficiency. It's like looking at a drawing of Glacier Point in Yosemite instead of actually visiting it. I think that’s why many of us feel that our lives are only (at best) occasionally meaningful. We aren’t taking part in the full thing!

Now I’m not saying that if you completely abandon all physically stunted methods of doing things your life will immediately become meaningful and you will be filled with a sense of purpose. What I am saying is that there is meaning to be uncovered in our relationships and in the world around us, but we might not realize it as long as we continue to live as if our physicality was not important.

We need our physicality. It should be embraced, not stunted. Efficiency is overrated when it comes at the cost of neglecting a part of our humanity. We need to be able to discern when to opt for the most efficient option and when we really need to physically interact with something. Discerning this, like anything else that is worth doing, will take time and a lot of practice.

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It is true that there’s only so much you can do nowadays without using technology. In many ways, technology is actually more efficient and really does help. However, I still think it’s important to be aware of how we are spending our time, how we are interacting with others, and what effect it might be having on us.

Currently, most of my life is spent sitting down. After I wake up, I go sit at the table and have breakfast, then I drive to work, where I sit at a desk and type on a computer, and then I drive home to go sit down again and relax with my family. The scary part is that this isn’t a new development. I’ve been sitting down—working and studying but nonetheless sitting down—for the better part of the last decade.

Think about that for a moment. How much time a day do you spend sitting down? How much time is spent on your phone? And how long has your life been like that? How much cumulative time have you spent not really moving in the last decade?

This year I turn twenty five. I’ve heard that at this age I have reached the peak of my potential to be in shape. It’s all downhill from here. This is not good. I’m in the worst shape of my life right now. Although I eat pretty healthy and make sure to get to the gym at least once or twice a week, I spend the majority of my day sitting down and staring at a screen, so of course I’m out of shape. The only part of me that might be in shape is my fingers.

Around a month ago I realized that I no longer needed a belt to hold up my pants. The last time that happened was after I spent an entire summer in college eating pop tarts and watching Game of Thrones. All day, everyday. So it appears that my current work atmosphere has the same effect as eating pop-tarts and binge watching TV. That’s not good. But this is bigger than just being out of shape. There’s more at stake than just my mile time or the risk of obesity and diabetes.

So where do we start? Well first, if you don’t get regular exercise, start there. Start with the gym twice a week. But what about your daily routine? How about your work activities?

It’s important to be able to discern when we need to be as efficient as possible and when it might be better to do something the old school way, by hand, with a pen and paper, not because it’ll be easier, but because it’ll be more meaningful. To find the right combination that works for you and your situation, it will definitely take some experimentation and a bit of time.

First of all, I realize and appreciate the irony in the fact that I’m using a laptop to write this. My job is mostly computer based, and it’s likely that a large part of yours is as well. Depending on your position and job status, you might not be authorized to make any changes to your work process. In that case you might have to increase your physical interactions in other areas of your life to balance out your lack of physicality at work. Or it might be time to look for another position. (I’m not advocating you quit your desk job tomorrow and start gardening instead, but I’m also not not saying to do that. Just don’t hold me liable for anything).

If you do have the option of significantly changing your work environment, experiment with some changes. Do you remember when offices used to have those big metal cabinets with drawers? There would be these things called paper files in them, and if you needed to find some information you’d have to stand up, walk to the cabinet in the hall, sift through a couple of drawers, and then carry the file back to your desk? Compared to finding a file on my computer, that sounds like some serious exercise.

But if you can’t make those changes, start small or start with another area of your life. Use a piece of paper and pen for your do to list, use a paper planner to schedule and keep track of your appointments, pay with cash, walk to the coffee shop, bike to work, go talk to your boss in their office instead of over email, actually go pick out your produce at the store, ask for a stand up desk, stand up and flip the light switch instead of using that app on your phone. Whatever it is, make a change to embrace some meaningful inefficiency.

There’s also something to be said about play, but we’ll save that for another time. When was the last time you danced in a field? Rolled in the dirt? Dove into a lake? Hopefully it was recently. Once upon a time, Dr. Olson and I instigated a mud wrestling contest and then jumped in a lake afterwards. You will never see photos of this event, but by all means you should follow our example.