Technological Addiction
The idea of going one day without your cell phone is unimaginable by today’s standards and expectations. You’d probably have your family members and significant other entertaining the thought of filling out a missing persons report. Cell phones are probably the most addicting technological piece of hardware known to modern mankind.
The fact that smartphones can basically do everything from GPS to tracking your heart rate, keeps people from putting them down for even one hour of their day. But it’s not so much the features that keep people glued; the idea of instant contact via texts, calls, emails and social media is driving this madness!
People love to socialize, and what better way than on-demand access at their fingertips? This form of connection via FaceTime, iMessage and social media is almost replacing in-person meetups; why leave your home when you can communicate from your couch? Don’t get me wrong, people still meet up all the time.
But we’re not as motivated to meet up because of the on-demand access; especially when it comes to dating. Why get dressed to go out when cold and rainy, when you can just use Tinder or Bumble to match with someone and hope to get a chat fired up? Our phones are literally learning how to control us with every yearly upgrade.
Have you ever tried disconnecting yourself from your cell phone for at least one day? Try and see if you can put your cell phone away for one entire Saturday! You will see how difficult it is, because your mind has become trained to continuously use apps and to anticipate people contacting you.
Even if we want to put our phones down, it becomes very hard to do so because our minds have become addicted to it. However, we don’t consider it an addiction unless someone goes overboard with it, as per societal standards. But aren’t we all overusing our phones on a daily basis?
So what is the solution? The expectation that you’ll use your phone for less than 10 minutes per day is out of the question; achieving that is unrealistic, unless if you are a monk! But you can decrease your usage and the way you view your cell phone by literally not caring so much about it.
Stop viewing your cell phone as this be-all-end-all technological prize. Appreciate what it can do for you, but learn to replace cell phone time with meditation, praying, in-person communication, reading and even thinking! Do we even think anymore? That’s an entire separate subject to be considered.
Just remember that you are greater than your cell phone; don’t allow it to take a hold of you.
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 