As I wrote in yesterday's blog, festivals feel very much like separate little societies, isolated from the rest of the world, and everyone is nice to each other.
I went to bed still thinking about it, and when I woke up, rather than my usual routine of grabbing my laptop, checking the news and all my social media, dealing with emails and then starting work, I just got up.* Perhaps it was the knowledge that trying to load anything was futile in this field, but I like to pretend it's because I am embracing my inner wild-child, and am disconnecting from technology.
It was only when I had got dressed, eaten, and walked down to the press tent did I actually start to realise that I had no idea what the latest news was. My phone is on battery saver mode, I don't get constant updates about the breaking political drama, and I genuinely think my life is better for it.
There is of course a niggling desire to find out who Theresa May is appointing in her cabinet, although I'm equally thinking perhaps I'd rather not know, given who she's put in already.
Perhaps that's what mellows people out so much. They aren't under constant bombardment from work emails, a myriad of bad news from the press, and a commute that would leave anybody homicidal.
Festivals allow you to be completely removed from the external pressures of the macro society, and instead contribute and enjoy the microsociety; a small intimate collective of 35,000 other festival goers, united by the disunity and disconnect to the outside world.
It - temporarily - does lead you to question how you currently live your life. Are we too focused on engaging with social media? Have we all become victims to the illness that is immediacy. Would it really be that awful to catch up on the news at 8am, 6pm and 10pm when the news comes on, instead of having it flashing in front of us 24/7?
Yes. It probably would be awful. Especially for me as a journalist, who makes money from people reading my work, even fluffy blog posts like this. Maybe I will adjust my daily schedule, and have some time to disengage from the internet. I probably won't though.
* This is a wholly inaccurate. I spent 30 minutes mustering the energy to move after nearly no sleep because I forgot my roll mat and and didn't check to see if I actually fit in the tent.
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