PJM: In my production practice, I have recognized the necessity of properly situating "virtual" devices - electronics devices, such as desktop and laptop computers, phones (which are now practically equivalent to computers in some aspects), iPads, etc. - in a sustainable use/time configuration with other activities, which aggregate in the loosely-termed "analog" end of the doing-being spectrum pertinent to making, to creating stuff. It helps to experience immersion in the virtual at some point, to gain perspective on the stakes. My introduction to the absorption, induction, subsumption complexes attaching "real" people/users to digital systems came via networked gaming, although the symptoms were there the first time my dad brought home ATARI and my brothers and I discovered PONG. I can discuss the strategy/tactics/theory of integrated analog/virtual production for artists at length. It is central to my process. Here are some strategic actions I take in the spirit of ON/OFF best practices:

Stop for your body
- Take a walk
- Make coffee, or take a coffee break at your local cafe
- Fix a healthy meal
- Take a nap
- Stretch, breathe, move
- Exercise
Prioritize family- and friend (F&F) time-
- Schedule meals and breaks with other reciprocally significant humans
- Ask proximal F&F for feedback on your virtual habituation
- Be mindful of e-anxiety during F&F exchanges and events
Be routinely e-free in nature
Construct your own Time
- Manage the Clock(s)
- Be time sensitive, so you can find (healthy) timeless space to be in
- Try timed meditation, metronomic workflow, Stopped-clock experiment
Discuss best practices with other digi-creatives
Research best practices for digi-creatives
Make a list of known warning signs that you are overdoing it; if you routinely fail to behave as if you care for your "total" well-being, relative to digital activity, at least talk to someone who will prioritize you over whatever virtual fix you "need" or bad habits you have hardwired in your wetware

Having a five year-old makes ON/OFF fun!

Afterthoughts

In my mind, strong definitions of "art" help me map my relations to the digital/virtual environment. I have generally kept the analog and electrified areas of my practice segregated. That said, there are certainly many "spaces" that contain both facets of my creative work. I do give myself permission to explore analog (and virtual) extremism. For instance, I have undertaken to create paintings consisting of parts made through minimal machining. The "material" I use is always interrogated. Similarly, I have created many strictly digital or "digital native" artworks. The italics are there intentionally. "Digital art" is theoretically unresolved at this point, in my view. Baudrillard looms large in this matter. I believe it is incumbent on each artist to apportion awareness to the questions: "What is art?" and "Who is an artist?" and "What is art for?"... Further, any artist who combines digital and analog in her creative enterprise benefits from inquiring about those terms, their applications, attached theory, and so on. To me this is simply a question of curiosity, on the one hand, and on the other, a function of craft, techne. The capacity for any artist to communicate in the presence of art and viewer thoughtfully, conscientiously, is supported by the practices of curiosity, expressed in the material. Social reflection emerges from a sound medium of practical awareness, drawn from the acts of making, with their continuum of internal and external aspects.

ON/OFF Drawing #1 [Ink on Paper (27 May 2017)]