Our phones are holding us back
Isn't it mad that I'd prefer to sit on my phone for two hours in the evening then do something beneficial like meditate or read a book?
What have we come to. This addiction is scary. I don't like it about myself. I don't like it full stop.
A couple of months ago I began tracking my phone usage. It was shocking. I was spending up between 5-6 hours a day on my phone. No joke. That sounds excessive but I assure you this is what we do with ourselves lately. I used an app called 'moment'. It monitors how many times you pick up your phone. I was picking up my phone up to 100 times a day. I slowly started to become conscious of how often I picked it up and for what reason. I am by no means 'clean' shall I say but I'm a lot better at recognizing when I'm getting into that checking every social media app four times loop, can you relate? These devices have become an extension of our being. As Mel Robbins says 'We have become a tool to our phones' when really our phone should be the tool. The amount of time we loose procrastinating on technology is insane.
Social media is one those things that everyone has and uses so its been normalized. It's become normal to be on your phone constantly. It's beside many of us 24/7. You're probably thinking 'oh, here we go again, the same story'. There is a lot of talk about this lately but for good reason.
For me, I grew up when Social media was new and exciting, slowly trickling into our lives with various apps. I remember when Snapchat came out. I thought it was so odd sending a picture of your face with a message and now it's totally normal, madness.
Looking back, I spent way too much time on my phone/ipod touch. Remember those? I would come in from school and sit in my bed for 2 hours "catching up". Catching up on what exactly? Why do we spend so much time looking at what other people are doing and not at what WE are doing. The Internet is fantastic but like anything, its fantastic in moderation. This has become an international addiction.
I began writing this because I find I get so frustrated with myself, I'm always aware of my phone even when I am distracted doing something. 'When will I next get to check it?' 'I hope I'm not missing anything'. these are some of the thoughts I'm pretty sure we all have.
No wonder we're all stressed. We are never present. Always stuck into something on Youtube or comparing ourselves on Instagram to 'Louise' who just got her dream job and has the boyfriend you think you could never get. I'll tell you one thing, there is no way you are going to get him sitting inside staring at your brand new iphone X hun.
I guess what I am trying to say is, how can we be our best selves if we are constantly wasting our precious time looking at what others are achieving? If we are continually sitting on our arse's distracting ourselves from the present moment we won't be happy. I feel so passionate about Well-being and this is something I think we all need to take into consideration. If you go to the doctor and she says you are 'depressed' or 'stressed', you'll most likely get a list of things you need to do or improve on. They say in order to feel well, you need sleep, exercise and good nutrition. I think we'll have to start adding in screen time to that list. All I'm asking is to anyone reading this have a little think about your own life and what your priorities are. Is spending hours on your phone every day one of them?
We need to wake up, we need to stop shrugging our shoulders at this serious issue. We all, as a collective need to get up, get out there and live. Live fully. Be present with whatever is going on in your life, good or bad.
I can't believe how reliant I am on my phone. How did people live years ago? they actually spoke to one another. Look up when your on the bus, put your phone away when you are in the restaurant, go out somewhere without it.
We might start to see things differently, we might see what we are missing.
What have we come to. This addiction is scary. I don't like it about myself. I don't like it full stop.
A couple of months ago I began tracking my phone usage. It was shocking. I was spending up between 5-6 hours a day on my phone. No joke. That sounds excessive but I assure you this is what we do with ourselves lately. I used an app called 'moment'. It monitors how many times you pick up your phone. I was picking up my phone up to 100 times a day. I slowly started to become conscious of how often I picked it up and for what reason. I am by no means 'clean' shall I say but I'm a lot better at recognizing when I'm getting into that checking every social media app four times loop, can you relate? These devices have become an extension of our being. As Mel Robbins says 'We have become a tool to our phones' when really our phone should be the tool. The amount of time we loose procrastinating on technology is insane.
Social media is one those things that everyone has and uses so its been normalized. It's become normal to be on your phone constantly. It's beside many of us 24/7. You're probably thinking 'oh, here we go again, the same story'. There is a lot of talk about this lately but for good reason.
For me, I grew up when Social media was new and exciting, slowly trickling into our lives with various apps. I remember when Snapchat came out. I thought it was so odd sending a picture of your face with a message and now it's totally normal, madness.
Looking back, I spent way too much time on my phone/ipod touch. Remember those? I would come in from school and sit in my bed for 2 hours "catching up". Catching up on what exactly? Why do we spend so much time looking at what other people are doing and not at what WE are doing. The Internet is fantastic but like anything, its fantastic in moderation. This has become an international addiction.
I began writing this because I find I get so frustrated with myself, I'm always aware of my phone even when I am distracted doing something. 'When will I next get to check it?' 'I hope I'm not missing anything'. these are some of the thoughts I'm pretty sure we all have.
No wonder we're all stressed. We are never present. Always stuck into something on Youtube or comparing ourselves on Instagram to 'Louise' who just got her dream job and has the boyfriend you think you could never get. I'll tell you one thing, there is no way you are going to get him sitting inside staring at your brand new iphone X hun.
I guess what I am trying to say is, how can we be our best selves if we are constantly wasting our precious time looking at what others are achieving? If we are continually sitting on our arse's distracting ourselves from the present moment we won't be happy. I feel so passionate about Well-being and this is something I think we all need to take into consideration. If you go to the doctor and she says you are 'depressed' or 'stressed', you'll most likely get a list of things you need to do or improve on. They say in order to feel well, you need sleep, exercise and good nutrition. I think we'll have to start adding in screen time to that list. All I'm asking is to anyone reading this have a little think about your own life and what your priorities are. Is spending hours on your phone every day one of them?
We need to wake up, we need to stop shrugging our shoulders at this serious issue. We all, as a collective need to get up, get out there and live. Live fully. Be present with whatever is going on in your life, good or bad.
I can't believe how reliant I am on my phone. How did people live years ago? they actually spoke to one another. Look up when your on the bus, put your phone away when you are in the restaurant, go out somewhere without it.
We might start to see things differently, we might see what we are missing.
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