Do you feel like a pusher sometimes?
A dealer who fell prey to their own products? They’re not our products though, we’ve adopted ownership without a proper job offer. We work for free for a discount on the latest technology and don’t get health benefits. “You can be the lucky one to beta test.” It’s a lot like an internship with no career at the end. Just bragging rights. I’ll be the first to tell you about the deal I got on my recent smartphone and the features I love best. Then I’d be the next to find an app or plan to help me use it less. There is a very strange balance that we can achieve with technology. It can ultimately make our lives easier, better, more connected to those we love, more on top of our schedules, finances, hobbies, everything. And at the same time, technology can just eat us up like I do to a proper gyro from an authentic Greek restaurant. It reminds you of drug addicts that you’ve either known or seen on TV. You’ve watched them and judged, “Man, look how hooked they are. It’s just pathetic.” Until you’ve had to poop without your phone nearby. Or waited in a line somewhere with a dead battery. Your hand pulls out the dead screen and stares at it, begging for it to give you some purpose over the next 28 seconds. Heaven forbid we be left alone with our thoughts. I noticed when I first got glasses, about a year in (maybe sooner) if I had them off, I’d still find myself reaching up to adjust them on my face. Lately, I swear I’ve felt the buzz of a notification from my phone when it wasn’t in my pocket. I’ve heard a ringtone or message alert when it’s on silent. Smartphones are like yawns, when you’re around someone who yawns, you just can’t help but yawn too. But it’s hard to live without them and I’m not suggesting we do. I have things I can do on my phone that have greatly improved my life, between writing ideas, my music collection, different apps that just make life easier. It’s what I’ve wanted for years. But there’s all this other crap that begs to be seen, purchased, and scrolled through until our eyes are bleeding. It feels like one must come with the other and we--the weak species that is prone to this kind of addiction--are supposed to figure out boundaries to take advantage of the good parts and leave the bad ones. I’m not confident in us, but we have to try. There are a bunch of kids getting their first smartphones soon that need some better examples than we’ve provided so far. At home we’ve started a 24 hour, electronics sabbath starting Friday nights. No screens of any kind but we can still push our own elevator buttons if applicable. We’ve moved our social media off our main app screen, making it harder to access. The next step would be removing it all together, but that’s a bigger step. Do you have any ideas or things you already do? Share them in the comments. We must find an answer to the biggest question of all: What are we supposed to do when we poop?
1 Comment
Patricia
1/6/2021 07:29:23 pm
Sahara always looked at Where's Waldo or the Batman search book when she pooped. She would be there looking at books so long she would have a red ring around her butt. So you could try that. Sounds like fun, right?
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AuthorScott writing the things that come into his head. Archives
January 2021
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