I saw a docu about a nun who’d spent 25 years in a Carmel cloister. Which for Sweden is unusual. Obv I was fishing for info about digital minimalism but the docu didn’t deliver what I wanted in that regard. She says at one point “We don’t have radio, TV, or newspapers, and we use internet very sparingly”. I was like “Internet?! Deets please! Exactly how many times a day do you refresh Antenna or sync your newsgroups? What’s your IRC bouncer, how’s your milter pipeline?” to no avail.
And while for her that’s a 25-years-and-counting journey, for the lady next to me in the theatre even the 100 min runtime was too long to forgo checking socials apparently. I don’t blame her; that’s just a sign of how addictive these apps actually are. (Okay, I do blame her a little but I try not to.)
So while the movie was slim pickings for my monomaniacal obsession with offline living (which for me has become increasingly theoretical since I got tablets to suck me back online after going dumbphone eight years ago), the devotional side of it was more rewarding. I love “The Interior Castle” and have read it a couple of times. But at the same time these are the folks (and her fam def belonged to the most reactionary faction) that fight against reproductive autonomy and affirming care—not just for themselves but in legislative chambers around the world. That subtext stayed sub, glossed over, unexamined in this film. Overall a worthwhile watch if you can complement it with your own political awareness and ability to recognize efforts to bind the outgroup.