On or Off, And Knowing The Difference
By: Stuart Knight (Founder and CEO) | September 14, 2026
I’m sitting in a cafe writing these words, but just before I began I spent about ten minutes taking in my surroundings. It’s a beautiful sunny morning at the corner of East 21st and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan, and the time is 830am. Out the window, hundreds of people walk past shuffling their kids to school, walking their dog and commuting to work. Ladies with rosy cheeks as they decompress from a hot yoga class, men giving each other bro hugs and girls snickering as a cute boy walks by. Black and white, short and tall, gay and straight, rich and poor, like dots on a map all moving in different directions. All of them “on”. None of them “off”
By “on”, I mean the brainwaves between their ears are alert and alive, shooting like canons from a ship. The driver checks his blind spot, the boss mentally reviews her notes for the upcoming meeting, the barista tapping my order into the digital abyss behind the screen. The cop having a cigarette, the doctor looking comfortable in his scrubs and the gal who knows her outfit is awesome. Every person thinking, contemplating, mulling, decoding, choosing, retracing, pondering, ruminating, reasoning, deliberating and maybe even worrying. Awake, aware, involved, engaged and definitely “on”. Until a chance to stop presents itself.
They arrive at a red light, wait for their coffee, say goodbye to a fellow parent or pause before writing a blog. These opportunities to stop come in many forms, and while they are guaranteed, it is not guaranteed that we will take them. Unfortunately, as I look around I can see that almost every person is ignoring this chance to just be, and instead is choosing something else to fill the space. Can you guess what that thing is? If you want, feel free to stop reading for a second if you need more time. If you already know, then let’s say it together. Yes, it’s the goddamn phone!
The women who just jumped into the taxi, the guy waiting for the light to turn and the person wishing their dog would just pee already. The teenager holding out for the second school bell, the couple sitting at the next table to me, and the barista who just caught a two minute break in between orders. All of them with a moment to turn off, but instead choosing to keep it turned on by checking a message, liking a photo or watching an influencer influence them. Getting back to an email, checking the status on a delivery, reading the news or buying something while waiting for the thing they just bought. The brain is on, dialed in, revved up and firing on all cylinders. Is that ever you? If so, does it concern you? I know that it concerns me when I catch myself doing it from time to time.
Sadly, the reality is that for most people it’s not just from time to time. It’s almost all the time, and it’s become such a part of their life that they aren’t even aware it’s happening anymore. Whether it’s on the toilet, while boarding a plane or walking down the street, staring at the phone has become the default thing to do when your mind is not required for something else. To the point where doing anything else has slowly become a state of such discomfort for most people that they’ve become functional zombies, completely unaware of the world around them.
What do you think being on that often does to a brain? Could it cause someone to feel burnt out? Would it make it difficult to fall asleep or get a good night’s rest? Can an overworked mind become foggy, irritable or even confused? What about the central nervous system? If every quiet moment of every single day is filled with stimulation, is it possible that the system could become out of whack or eventually break down? For millions of years, silence, stillness and calm were part of our human existence. The 500 yard walk to get water, the back and forth on the rocking chair after dinner or the reading by candlelight. Besides the tweet from a bird in the distance, the creak of a floorboard or the chirp of a cricket, quiet was baked into our lives multiple times a day.
Personally, I think it’s time to get it back. There are companies, algorithms and endless incentives that are geared toward keeping us on and never off. Many people benefit greatly from you and I staring and comparing, swiping and typing, and as we blindly follow these unconscious orders, we slowly deteriorate from the people we’re supposed to be.
It is for this reason that I am on a personal mission to consciously choose “off” instead of “on”. This is why today, while waiting for the other passengers to take their seats on the plane, I look at their faces and wonder about their lives. While the barista makes my coffee, I stare out the window and imagine where everyone is going. When waiting for my child to come out of school, I begin a conversation with a fellow parent.
And all of a sudden my shoulders drop, my breathing slows and the rhythm of my heart syncs up with the rhythm of the beautiful universe we’re all floating through. It’s a magical place to be, and it can be yours whenever you want. In fact, you would be amazed at how much of a turn on it can be the second you choose to turn off.
Much Love,
Stuart
P.S. You never know who could be impacted by these blogs, so please consider sharing or liking this post, and then let the universe pop it onto the page of the person who needed to hear this today.
P.P.S. Don’t forget that you can download Toolbox 22 for resources that help you connect on a meaningful level for free! Click the following link to get it today. https://www.humanconnectiongroup.com/toolbox22
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