If I want more IRL, I must go AFK

On my (retired) disability blog, back in 2010, I wrote a post called The tangible world wherein I ruminated on how I felt less and less able to interact physically with the world around me. I noted that many of the physical interactions I was missing out on were subtle, almost ephemeral, things that able-bodied people take for granted. I knew that much of my life was being spent at, and lived through, a screen. I could sense that the collective mass of essence that constitutes me—my soul, my consciousness—was becoming less able to manifest itself in the real world. I could feel myself receding into what I called, the world of the mind. While I would never trade my mind for physical ability, I realize that there is a part of the world in which my participation is waning. Even with its capacity for thought, ideas, and emotion, the world of the mind can still be a cold, dark, and lonely place. As I no doubt expected back when I wrote that, the trend continued. I spend most of my waking…