Out in the Cold (Hunter Field Editor’s Note)

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The snow and ice that brought most of Arkansas to a halt last week were inconvenient for a hundred different reasons.

It cost the state and businesses millions, and I’m sure it forced many people to cancel important medical appointments and the like.

I acknowledge all of that, but I also think it offered many of us a chance for a healthy break.

I can’t remember the last time I went five days without leaving the house, probably the last time we had lingering snow and ice.

My family and I cooked together and we caught up on reading and television shows we’d been wanting to watch. Since there was very little local news happening, I mostly stayed off my phone.

My phone use was limited to checking the weather forecast and reading the posts on our rural community’s Facebook page with amusement and, I must admit, some level of concern.

There was so much panic about the condition of the roads and the cold. Some concern was warranted, sure, but I think our world has become so connected that it has changed part of the experience of being human. Any level of disconnection — whether physical or digital — prompts a fight-or-flight response for so many.

Maybe it’s always been this way, and I’m just noticing it more now. But I am becoming more grateful for the times I am able to disconnect, even if for just a couple of days during a winter storm.

It’s becoming a priority as I think about how to spend my time off. Our brains need a break from all of that static, research continues to find, and I think it’s healthy to hold on to the part of our humanity that doesn’t need to be constantly tethered to Wi-Fi or civilization.

Disconnecting is a worthy priority — one that shouldn’t require a snowstorm.

Email Hunter Field, editor of Arkansas Business, at hfield@abpg.com