devices

Kick the Habit. You’re stronger.

~ Ron Walker ~ 18 Comments

Are you addicted to a device?
One sure sign is if you take it to the bathroom with you. If you can’t take a moment for bodily functions without your phone/device, then you’re a rabid stockbroker or addicted to your device.

Taking Control:
The first step to fighting social media addiction is to decide “you’re in control”. Your time is important, time can never be redeemed. Once a moment is spent, it’s gone forever. It can be remembered fondly, but it can never be repeated or changed.

Explain to family and friends, that you don’t always respond right away. You may be busy, or just don’t feel like texting or posting to social media at times. If they don’t want to understand that, it is on them. The excuse of, “How will you know it’s not an emergency” is not a valid excuse. A phone call is placed faster, if not as fast as a text, or social posting. Teach others, that the phone portion still works on the devices, and sometimes that is your preferred way of communicating.

Help Yourself break the habit:
I decided, that I would not be a slave to a device. “I” control my time. I started by leaving my phone in the other room for short periods. When I returned to the room after whatever I’d been doing, I would check it for a missed call or other communication. Many understood, some stopped texting me as much. Maybe their ego was Injured by the removal of instant gratification. Or maybe they simply understood. You’ll be amazed at how long you can go after a while, without checking for texts and social media updates. It’s like breaking any other habit. Baby Steps.

Turn off Auto notifications:
This gives you control. No more interruptions during dinner, theater, or conversations with others. Decide you are going to live without listening for a notification from social media and check it when “you” want. This is you controlling your time and life. At night, my phone is set to only allow notifications or phone calls from family. All of them know by now that it is set that way, and I don’t do midnight texting or calls unless it’s an emergency.

Stop watching me:
If you don’t know it yet. Social media is the biggest privacy leech invented. It knows what you discuss, read, search for, and produces ads based on these things. It also partners with other ad producers and social platforms to do the same. I have deleted my Twitter account. I mean, what does it actually do for me. Other than make me feel important once in a while when something gets retweeted.

I wish you luck, if breaking the habit is something you want, or need to do. It will give you less stress, more time, and improve your personal interaction with others. So, forget that phone for a moment, then make it two moments, then three. Suddenly, you’ll be looking for where you left it the last time, or you’ll place it on a table for easy access, just like our old landlines that didn’t rule our lives.

Do you have any ideas to help? Think you can do it, or do you want or need to do it. Maybe it’s too important to some. That is a decision we all have to make as individuals. Me? I feel in control, liberated.

Comments always welcome.

Mobile Devices. Losing ourselves, one moment at a time.

~ Ron Walker ~ 21 Comments

Definition of addiction

: a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence: the state of being addicted

-Míriam Webster

It started as a novelty. Something we had all wanted, and a way to save time and supposedly bring people closer. Devices, those things with which to save time and communicate have taken over our very lives. Social media was to bring us together and share information. Instead, it has come to consume nearly every waking moment of many. It has also served to isolate us from one another. There is no real substitute for personal contact. Without it, we become sick. Mentally, and physically.

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Courtesy and respect have taken a backseat, to contact and instant gratification. Families sit at dinner tables and stare at illuminated screens as if some unseen force compels them to remain motionless, and voiceless. Staring intently at an inanimate object craving for the need to feel accepted by others. Immersed in another reality, oblivious to those around them until some urgent outside stimulus pulls them away, like an addict in a drug room who just had the hose unplugged from their Hookah.

Young and old frantically searching for a way to recharge a device, so they don’t miss the next casual call or text. Some people actually become agitated when deprived of instant access. Mental Addiction?

We all know how it affects us, but we are still drawn into the darkness for that egotistical fix of feeling worthwhile, and important. All the time ignoring those closest to us, that are truly personal contacts. Show a person the Meme below, and they will chuckle. Knowing all too well it is a harsh truth, but it is easier to make light of it than to fix it.

Next time you’re out, look around and notice how many aren’t paying attention to what’s around them. Buried in a device of some sort.

Only we can make the decision not to be enslaved to devices, it doesn’t happen overnight. Like a smoker trying to quit, you have to be strong and resist it in increments. Take back your life, let those closest to you know you care. Don’t be afraid, take that first step. You’ll be glad you did.

Comments, welcome.