ITTT Automation and Mindfulness

This week for our Web 2.0 course we were given the task of exploring an online tool called If This Then That. By using this tool to its full potential, and in tandem with some equipment, it seems that you could automate almost your entire life, from doors locking behind as you leave the house, to house lights tuning to the appropriate mood according to the situation at hand, to any information you collect or create on any of your devices being automatically sent or uploaded to wherever it will need to go without you actually having to do it or even think about it. To make a broad generalization, it seems like if you pay attention to ITTT, you almost don't have to pay attention to anything else.

I had a rather fascinating emotional response as I viewed the instructional YouTube videos on this tool--a mixture of fascination, hope, and terror. Oh, how wonderful it would be not to have to worry about so many little details throughout the day. How much cognitive space could be opened up by relieving my brain of all that clutter? The prospect is intriguing. Yet my impression is that what it would take to implement this tool in my life would require quite a bit of doing. Talk about drinking from a fire hose! The possibilities for using and integrating ITTT are seemingly endless.

My main area of interest is mindful awareness, so of course I also found myself thinking about how a tool like ITTT relates to that. One of the cornerstones of mindfulness is the idea of having your attention rooted in the present moment--in all that you are experiencing--the sensations, the feelings, the sounds, tastes, and smells all around you, even what is happening in your own body. If I am not having to pay attention to locking my door before I leave, what I am doing with the lighting in my house, whether or not I have checked to see if I have any messages on my social media or my phone, how mindfully am I living, really?

I honestly don't have the answers here. I can see both sides. I can see the amazing benefits of automation--of tools like ITTT--that can free up mental space for us to be more creative and productive. I can also see how these tools of automation can disconnect us from our simple movement through our days, the little tasks strung one to the next, the movement of our bodies and our breaths.

I guess the only answer is in our choices--how we choose to maximize a tool like ITTT and how we choose to be mindful. Personally, I'm planning to use this one. It's just too cool!

Thoughts?