Perhaps, my smartphone (which died four months ago) gave my brain space to breathe and my small hands some freedom.
I know I’ve become like a parrot telling you again and again how I begin to notice the people surrounding me relate to their smartphones because where else would my attention go? There’s nothing much to check on a dumbphone (keypad phone) except when you receive a text and a call.
But a couple of times have I been in a conversation when it abruptly stopped just because the other party decided to casually browse their phone. Not that they were disinterested (they were, actually). But probably, the fear of missing out on an email from work (even beyond office hours) felt grudgingly horrifying for them that they simply unconsciously reached out for their devices just in case something came up.
As a matter of fact, being weaned from my smartphone allowed me to focus better on things that I should be working on. I don’t feel the need to be digitally present every time (except when publicizing my blog post or work-related online content) because it doesn’t appeal to me as much as it would have when I still had the convenience of a smartphone.
Yet, I’m still far from being a social media hermit, but I know I am way better off today than four months ago.
I now see better.
Seeing how these small, handheld devices are shaping the way we relate with one another–getting connected and disconnected at the same time.
It’s incredible how a book that was written a decade ago still speaks a lot today.
If we are very busy there is every chance that our brain will not listen to reason and we will end up supporting things that are dangerous or ideas that seek to do us, or others, harm. Fakery, insincerity, and big fat lies all prosper in a world that is too busy or distracted. Put bluntly, if we are all too busy and self-absorbed to notice or challenge things, then evil will win by default. Or, as Milan Kundera put it: “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”
Crikey. That sounds to me like quite a good reason to unsubscribe from a few email newsletters and turn the cell phone off once in a while–to become what Hal Crowther terms “blessedly disconnected.” The future of the planet and life as we know it are clearly at stake.
If you are interested to read more about the rise of connectivity addiction without reading the whole book, here’s an excerpt from Future Minds: How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters and What We Can Do About It.
jessa 