I had my first sauna of the year today, which was easy to do since it was the first day of the year. We are fortunate to have an infrared sauna that we keep in our garage, and today’s sauna was one of the best that I’ve had in quite some time. I stayed in for over 30 minutes and sweated up a storm. Around minute 20 I thought about getting out, but I wanted to cross that 30-minute threshold for both psychological and physiological reasons. To get across the finish-line I turned on some music. I’m not sure if that is cheating or not as I would, in theory, prefer to keep my sauna “pure” in the sense that I am sitting there sweating with my thoughts and no other distractions. Nevertheless, saunas are good, and I wish for everyone to enjoy them as much as I do. I hope 2025 is the year I make good on my sauna-maxxing aspirations.
So, what do saunas have to do with the New Year and with technology and society in general? Well, a sauna is a great way to relieve stress, remove toxins, and generally put yourself in a better frame of mind. A sauna is a release valve for stress, pressure, and other problems in your life. I can think of no technological equivalent to a sauna, and that’s a problem. It’s a problem, because we get so lost in the discourse of the day and the current vibe in our politics, but we don’t have a built-in healthy release valve in digital form. Perhaps no such thing should exist or even could exist. Perhaps that’s the point. Technology is great, but just how much of it has to with life, and society? Well, as a lawyer, it depends.