Analysis Of Aerobic Sisyphus And The Suburbanized Psyche

Writing As Thinking
Rebecca Solnit's essay, “Aerobic Sisyphus and the Suburbanized Psyche” was a critical piece of work focused on walking and its decline through the age of industry and modern technology. I believe Solnit was wrong in the terms of her essay, which is mostly about walking, in many ways. She makes a few good points, like when she talks about the idea of technology removing us from our sense of physical socialness, and how we admire and feel about the natural world. She also makes strong points about the separation of home and work, the creation of suburbia and the difficulty of modern walking. Her ideas of disembodiment and how we today work, exercise, and interact with our world has changed so negatively from that of the past …show more content…
It in some ways dispels the thought of disembodying myself, encourage exercise and participating in abstract thought or learning, but also at the same time fortifies her main concepts of the technology barrier, and how it has changed our lives and the world we perceive. It in many ways encourages me to retreat from the community I live in, but also brings me into an online community of my high school friends and the nice people I have met through the games I’ve played. I see my own body and mind as a source of recreation in many instances when working out or learning, but otherwise is just a calming and peaceful place for me to retreat to when feeling stressed, which happens to be a lot. This space known for its electronic and secluded ways is a place for my mind to grow, or relax from the struggles of everyday life, and help keep my fitness. It supports Solnit’s ideas of being cut off from social, physically community, and a kind of disembodiment in playing video games, but ultimately embodies me in the ideas of learning and peace of mind. It centers my thoughts and creates the ideal environment for me to grow as an individual. Solnit argues that these thing have become a block in our social nature, and turn us away from physical activity and meaningful exercise, but how I feel in this place contradicts those ideas by making me more social and encouraging fitness and potential walking for fitness, as well as exploring and taking care of the animals that I have assumed responsibility for. It critiques the ideas that it separated myself from others, or replaces work with the gym experience, and encourages outside, physical activity at some opportunities, too. However among these topics none seem to make myself any less social or active, but instead encourages some of these ideas in different ways. This space has been a good place of experience, comfort, work, and relaxation and despite Solnit’s argument