I'm 18 so I guess I'm gen Z. I've never really been very connected to the culture and the popular references of my peers. I tried to disconnect and gain control over myself after the overstimulation of the pandemic because like you, I was just so tired of it all.
So I agree. I think we'd all be a lot healthier without so much screentime.
However, I do wonder sometimes if I could connect more with my peers if I actually understand the references. As a way of breaking the surface tension. It's weird, but it's kind of like a language of connection. Seizing control of my time has disconnected me from many others, but connected me much closer to myself and certain people who are surprisingly open to real conversations, craving the same things I am. The thing is, some of the people addicted to social media actually have surprisingly deep thoughts. I just can't really understand the initial pop culture stuff. Also, they're interacting in the real world, even if their shared language is from surfing the wave of social media. In fact, I'm a bit socially distant because I can't understand and situate myself with my peers. They're actually often better at communicating in person with each other. So I don't know, it's complicated.
I think there's something you're missing too. Technology isn't really innately bad. It depends on how it's used, and the environment a certain app creates (short-form content/social media). Take Substack for instance - it tries to create a wholesome, connected environment that I think we'd agree is pretty remarkable. I'm also trying to build an app that would encourage people to go back to learning real skills and making long-term goals.
I think screen time is a fairly big problem, but it's not so bad as we make it out to be. Yeah, my generation might spend say 8-10 hours total on devices. But who doesn't? Our schoolwork, entertainment, communications, creative inputs and outputs are all being moved there. I think mindless screentime is the real issue. You can be focused and be on a screen. Use it right, screens can even bring you closer to reality (research, engaging with culture/history, etc). We just need to escape this distracted, mindless sphere.
If it's any assurance, I did a survey of some 25 peers aged 13-25 and most spend around 2-3 hours mindlessly on their phones (not nearly as bad as I thought). And most are trying to be better about their screen time because they know it's bad. They feel guilt. We haven't given up.
Moral of my rant: it's bad but not so bad. And it depends. Sorry for the lack of conciseness in this comment haha
I loved your comment, thank you so much for contributing your thoughts.
All excellent points. And I’m so happy to hear from someone from your generation.
You’re right, it’s the mindless scrolling that is most concerning. A couple hours a day = 50-60 hours a month? What could we do with that time that would be better for us…time in nature, being active, reading or learning, being social, etc. It’s all about being intentional with our choices.
Thank you so much for reading, and taking the time to leave such an insightful comment. You’re giving me hope for the future.
I agree, it’s not all good or bad. I don’t know why we set up these inter-generational tensions but I remember what it was like to get lumped together with all the millennials and not be viewed as a person.
Because I’m a millennial who also didn’t get all the references when I was a teenager. So I decided to view it as a weird superpower.
Because eventually every generation starts panicking about “being old” and “not understanding what the kids are saying”. But I was already not understanding it all as a kid, so I was saved from this panic.
I don’t mind the old fashioned way of just asking “hey what’s that mean?” Or doing some research.
A lot of it predicted by Alvin Tofler in Future Shock back the 60s. The inability to focus for longer periods started with MTV, it was exactly the concern about that style of 'programming '.
The problem with free education is the price you pay
…aaaand the Bhagavad Gita about a bajillion years ago. The illusion is real. You actually WANT to be dis-illusioned. Shatter that Maya. Think of this as you waking up. Yes, it’s disorienting. It’s designed to be. Start to clear the mitote. Give space to integrate what is happening during your day/week. This is a key point (for this guesser at least).
Many of us do not allow for being: transition time between doings, meditating (not more thinking - which we can play with by exploring listening if meditating is too kafkaesque for you at this moment)
Now integrate (or explore or discard) the lessons that comes up.
Now put into practice.
Try that for 10 weeks and allow future you to check back in with past you and see if there are some nuggets in there.
Echoing all the feels on all this. I’ve been experimenting.
1. Stopped using FB and IG in favor of texting and then calling friends: “May I call you?” Instead of using Gramma Google or Chat GPT to answer everything. It’s awesome to catchup and say “hey I’m off the socials so I’m not following you, how are things?” And hear the relief in their voice at speaking to a human friend.
2. Turn off notifications.
3. Cancel News plus. Rename the tile holding my “news” apps “Nooze” so that it more closely resembles what it really is: a widely consumed and “accepted” (shoved down your throat?) neurotransmitter manipulator devoid of substantive data, in 140 characters or less. (How is one able to convey anything meaningful in so few words? Where’s the context? TLDR.
4. Watch the Social Dilemma. Still haven’t seen it? Have children approaching middle school? Just watch it already.
5. Devour the work of the “Center for Humane Technology”, implement, share your insights into how your life changes from undoing some of this damage we’ve seen in your personal life.
6. Dumb your device. Yes, it’s a thing.
7. Think about how you got to this point in your life of existential Doom. Listen to your conscience. (Is it still there?) Now, where did it slowly start going in a direction that hasn’t served you (or anybody)?
8. Track your screen time. Yes, it’s all right there. How each moment on what app is spent. Now do it in a granular way: it’s not all Doom. Start reducing the numbers that reflect meaningless activity.
9. Replace with… nothing. Yep. You are not a human doing you’re a human being. Enroll your awareness in this mission. Experiment. What is “Mediation?” How do you “Listen.” Listen to Alan Watts, read Yogananda, Ram Dass.They are good guessers on how this stuff works. (Side note: drop some remarkable non-male guessers in here… please.)
10. Write your own “manifesto”. Just don’t shoot people. Maybe call it your “guessifesto”? for good measure so you don’t get all worked up and end up in orange.
11. Go and find all this yourself. It will increase your attention span, which has gone from 5 seconds to a 5th of a second in 5 years. Enforced “where’s the link?” Fast. You do have a brain, you’re not dumb yet, and you’re definitely here for a reason.
Andy…you’ve put some thought into this. Thank you for your comment! Yes I’ve seen the social dilemma, and my kids were both teenagers at the time - that’s some scary shit. I’m all over #8 and thank you for the non-male request. Because my philosophy takes a financial bent (see previous work of mine), I like a couple of female philosophy/financial writers who both happen to have substacks as well - Katie Gatti and Kyla Scanlon. I like a dash of deep thinking with my cultural commentary. On the spiritual side, I fear there’s a dearth of female voices but Tara Brach and Pema Chodron come to mind. I am following you now, my friend. Yours is a voice I may want to amplify.
You’re obviously not alone, Amy! And amongst the chorus of comments here, linking arms with you also. 🧡
My last essay came from a similar place of disgust and frustration, but/and/also… motivation. There’s much opportunity here, and your words and actions are integral to our collective movement forward. Thank you!!
I spend time outdoors, walking my dog and reading. A little tv perhaps but definitely listening to music. I do spend time on my devices, but try to do it in bits and pieces. I confess my guilty pleasure is animal and science videos.
All kinds. I was not a science nerd in school, but I decided to get my geek on as an adult. Astronomy, biology, oceanography, nature, anything that can explain phenomena in plain English. The one science I excelled in was geology. Loved learning about rocks, minerals and learning to read topography maps.
I made an effort to get back to reading books last year. I’ve gradually been able to lock in for longer periods of time and on days off or Sundays will now read a book or my Kindle for hours at a time with my phone left on the other side of the room. It’s therapeutic I’ve learned and I feel more focused in everyday life. I send a lot less junk and meme nonsense around to friends and family too and just feel better in relationships and day to day living.
Start slowly cutting back time with your phone and it will compound to become easier day over day if you stay committed.
Amen to that! I’m thinking about strategies to cope with the withdrawal period. The dopamine hits are powerful and quite addictive. How are you planning to manage withdrawal?
Great question, Rochelle. For me I’m just trying to crowd out the bad with the good. So as long as I fill my day with the things I want to focus on, I just have less time to reach for my phone. I try to read in the evening with my phone out of reach. And I keep notifications off. I think if we can find enough sources of those feel-good brain chemicals outside of screens, we’ll be okay.
Just thought of carrying a small sketch pad everywhere to do quick drawings instead of reaching for my phone. We need them for safety and all sorts of reasons but I hate all the things you so aptly describe that come from unregulated, unconscious use! I don’t like that I’ve become dumber and find it so difficult to read, which used to be one of the greatest pleasures in my life. Thanks for articulating this and putting it out there.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. If drawing is your thing, I think a drawing pad is a fantastic idea! I tried carrying a notebook around for a bit but that didn’t quite catch on for me. Just keeping my phone in a zippered pocket of my bag is sometimes enough to quell the urge to pick it up.
I have found hiding my phone away at night so I can't see it really helps. I put mine in a Victorian writing bureau box. There's something appealing about the anachronism and the snapping shut of the lid!
I agree with you, and it really is embarrassing and devastating to say this, but I had to make myself to actually read the whole thing. Not because it’s boring or bad, but because my attention span is getting shorter… I used to enjoy YouTube but now I feel videos are too long! Help.
I wish we could have back internet like it was when I was a teenager; message boards, MySpace and personal websites and blogs where people actually connected! I still talk to a lot of people from those days, the friendships might not be the same as meeting in real life but still “real”.
I think a lot of us are feeling the effects of a shorter attention span! I look at the length of a YouTube video before I even start it because I may not want to invest that much time…it’s partly because we have so much coming at us and have to be choosy about what we take in, and it’s partly that we are so used to the quick hit of dopamine that there’s no reason to have to wait.
I get what you mean about longing for the good old days. I used to churn through books like nobody’s business but now I work hard to complete a whole book. I have to set a timer to make myself keep reading for that length of tome. There are just too many distractions!
On the positive side, I think the type of connections you used to make in the early days of social media can be found here on Substack. I find it’s a bit of a throwback to a simpler time in that way. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.
It sure seems like a scary situation. At the same time it’s a giant opportunity. I’ll go outside with you, but I’m bringing my phone to take pictures.
The world is definitely changing and we have to change too.
Every single generation thought the sky was falling, the world was worse than ever, and everything was going to pot. Cave men probably saw some newfangled fire and were worried eating cooked meat was making the next generation soft.
Again, the sky is falling, and we have to dodge the pieces.
It’s our job as humans to use intention to guide our path. I intend to build relationships with real people, read real books, WRITE real books, and evolve through this.
Great insights, Tim, thanks for sharing. You’re absolutely right, it’s about being intentional, and not feeling like we are just being yanked around. As long as we hang on to our ability to choose how we spend our time and energy, we will be okay. Technology can be a great addition to our lives, it just shouldn’t be the centre and focus of our lives.
Maybe it will be the same as the resurgence of vinyl records. It might become “cool” to unplug. Except no one will know, because these new cool people won’t be on social media. They will just go silent
I have cut back a lot on social media and I know others who have gone off those platforms completely. Whatever gives us peace, we should pursue. For some of us that might mean unplugging. Or maybe doing a periodic fast from technology.
Amy, you are not the only one and I happily join you. I’m not old enough to be one of those “get off my lawn” grumpy guys, but everything is invasive these days and it’s too much. The way tech and content is must-have or life or death, and that we get left in the dust somehow if we don’t feed the machine. I dislike that.
Random question: have you seen the mid-00’s movie “Idiocracy”? I’ve thought about that movie far too often in recent years, and that’s not a good thing (even though the movie is amusing - scarily so). 😊
Glad I’m not the only one, Mike. I haven’t seen that movie but sounds like I need to check it out! Invasive is a good word for what’s happening. Dystopian even.
Amy I completely agree. I feel like we’re all in an episode of black mirror and it’s getting worse. I can stop it for myself but I do worry about society as a whole, and young generations. I do not want to be on my death bed wishing I hadn’t spent 6 hours of every day on my phone - there’s no way. 2025 I am making a change because, like you, I am absolutely not going to be a part of this - I’ve bought art books, jigsaw puzzles, a load of books, and I’m going to delete my Instagram for as long as I can, delete tik tok, not use my phone when I eat, not use before bed, limit texting, etc etc. Sick of it all.
I have just finished reading your post and the comments.
Yes, we are in trouble but most of us do not realize it.
I would like to recommend a book: “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence” by Dr. Anna Lembke of Stanford University. While Dr. Lembke profiles individuals with addictions to different substances and behaviours, there are useful tools, and also profiles of digital addiction.
Hope this helps. And have a beautiful, healthy day outdoors, everyone. 🚶🏻♀️🪴🌳🍁🌅
The best days I have are when I've spent very little time on my phone, just being present and living in the moment. So many people wake up and check their phones to see what everyone else is up to instead of checking in on themselves and spending time alone.
Also some good points you make about memorising numbers etc, I hadn't thought of this before.
Thanks Stefano! I appreciate your thoughtful comments and will check out your post. I think the ability to be alone without the distraction of technology may be a skill we are collectively losing. I really can’t imagine what the next 10-20-50 years will hold. If I’m still around, I guess I’ll find out!
I'm 18 so I guess I'm gen Z. I've never really been very connected to the culture and the popular references of my peers. I tried to disconnect and gain control over myself after the overstimulation of the pandemic because like you, I was just so tired of it all.
So I agree. I think we'd all be a lot healthier without so much screentime.
However, I do wonder sometimes if I could connect more with my peers if I actually understand the references. As a way of breaking the surface tension. It's weird, but it's kind of like a language of connection. Seizing control of my time has disconnected me from many others, but connected me much closer to myself and certain people who are surprisingly open to real conversations, craving the same things I am. The thing is, some of the people addicted to social media actually have surprisingly deep thoughts. I just can't really understand the initial pop culture stuff. Also, they're interacting in the real world, even if their shared language is from surfing the wave of social media. In fact, I'm a bit socially distant because I can't understand and situate myself with my peers. They're actually often better at communicating in person with each other. So I don't know, it's complicated.
I think there's something you're missing too. Technology isn't really innately bad. It depends on how it's used, and the environment a certain app creates (short-form content/social media). Take Substack for instance - it tries to create a wholesome, connected environment that I think we'd agree is pretty remarkable. I'm also trying to build an app that would encourage people to go back to learning real skills and making long-term goals.
I think screen time is a fairly big problem, but it's not so bad as we make it out to be. Yeah, my generation might spend say 8-10 hours total on devices. But who doesn't? Our schoolwork, entertainment, communications, creative inputs and outputs are all being moved there. I think mindless screentime is the real issue. You can be focused and be on a screen. Use it right, screens can even bring you closer to reality (research, engaging with culture/history, etc). We just need to escape this distracted, mindless sphere.
If it's any assurance, I did a survey of some 25 peers aged 13-25 and most spend around 2-3 hours mindlessly on their phones (not nearly as bad as I thought). And most are trying to be better about their screen time because they know it's bad. They feel guilt. We haven't given up.
Moral of my rant: it's bad but not so bad. And it depends. Sorry for the lack of conciseness in this comment haha
I loved your comment, thank you so much for contributing your thoughts.
All excellent points. And I’m so happy to hear from someone from your generation.
You’re right, it’s the mindless scrolling that is most concerning. A couple hours a day = 50-60 hours a month? What could we do with that time that would be better for us…time in nature, being active, reading or learning, being social, etc. It’s all about being intentional with our choices.
Thank you so much for reading, and taking the time to leave such an insightful comment. You’re giving me hope for the future.
I agree, it’s not all good or bad. I don’t know why we set up these inter-generational tensions but I remember what it was like to get lumped together with all the millennials and not be viewed as a person.
Because I’m a millennial who also didn’t get all the references when I was a teenager. So I decided to view it as a weird superpower.
Because eventually every generation starts panicking about “being old” and “not understanding what the kids are saying”. But I was already not understanding it all as a kid, so I was saved from this panic.
I don’t mind the old fashioned way of just asking “hey what’s that mean?” Or doing some research.
You are not alone
A lot of it predicted by Alvin Tofler in Future Shock back the 60s. The inability to focus for longer periods started with MTV, it was exactly the concern about that style of 'programming '.
The problem with free education is the price you pay
There’s an epic slogan if I ever heard one
…aaaand the Bhagavad Gita about a bajillion years ago. The illusion is real. You actually WANT to be dis-illusioned. Shatter that Maya. Think of this as you waking up. Yes, it’s disorienting. It’s designed to be. Start to clear the mitote. Give space to integrate what is happening during your day/week. This is a key point (for this guesser at least).
Many of us do not allow for being: transition time between doings, meditating (not more thinking - which we can play with by exploring listening if meditating is too kafkaesque for you at this moment)
Now integrate (or explore or discard) the lessons that comes up.
Now put into practice.
Try that for 10 weeks and allow future you to check back in with past you and see if there are some nuggets in there.
I think you may be on a new plane of awakening but we will try to catch up. 😉
Maya - it’s all around and inescapable. But once you see through it you can’t unsee-through it. Very disorienting.
😂
Echoing all the feels on all this. I’ve been experimenting.
1. Stopped using FB and IG in favor of texting and then calling friends: “May I call you?” Instead of using Gramma Google or Chat GPT to answer everything. It’s awesome to catchup and say “hey I’m off the socials so I’m not following you, how are things?” And hear the relief in their voice at speaking to a human friend.
2. Turn off notifications.
3. Cancel News plus. Rename the tile holding my “news” apps “Nooze” so that it more closely resembles what it really is: a widely consumed and “accepted” (shoved down your throat?) neurotransmitter manipulator devoid of substantive data, in 140 characters or less. (How is one able to convey anything meaningful in so few words? Where’s the context? TLDR.
4. Watch the Social Dilemma. Still haven’t seen it? Have children approaching middle school? Just watch it already.
5. Devour the work of the “Center for Humane Technology”, implement, share your insights into how your life changes from undoing some of this damage we’ve seen in your personal life.
6. Dumb your device. Yes, it’s a thing.
7. Think about how you got to this point in your life of existential Doom. Listen to your conscience. (Is it still there?) Now, where did it slowly start going in a direction that hasn’t served you (or anybody)?
8. Track your screen time. Yes, it’s all right there. How each moment on what app is spent. Now do it in a granular way: it’s not all Doom. Start reducing the numbers that reflect meaningless activity.
9. Replace with… nothing. Yep. You are not a human doing you’re a human being. Enroll your awareness in this mission. Experiment. What is “Mediation?” How do you “Listen.” Listen to Alan Watts, read Yogananda, Ram Dass.They are good guessers on how this stuff works. (Side note: drop some remarkable non-male guessers in here… please.)
10. Write your own “manifesto”. Just don’t shoot people. Maybe call it your “guessifesto”? for good measure so you don’t get all worked up and end up in orange.
11. Go and find all this yourself. It will increase your attention span, which has gone from 5 seconds to a 5th of a second in 5 years. Enforced “where’s the link?” Fast. You do have a brain, you’re not dumb yet, and you’re definitely here for a reason.
Andy…you’ve put some thought into this. Thank you for your comment! Yes I’ve seen the social dilemma, and my kids were both teenagers at the time - that’s some scary shit. I’m all over #8 and thank you for the non-male request. Because my philosophy takes a financial bent (see previous work of mine), I like a couple of female philosophy/financial writers who both happen to have substacks as well - Katie Gatti and Kyla Scanlon. I like a dash of deep thinking with my cultural commentary. On the spiritual side, I fear there’s a dearth of female voices but Tara Brach and Pema Chodron come to mind. I am following you now, my friend. Yours is a voice I may want to amplify.
Excellent Amy, thoughtful, accurate and very well written. I agree completely and see the diminishment daily.
Thank you so much for reading!
You’re obviously not alone, Amy! And amongst the chorus of comments here, linking arms with you also. 🧡
My last essay came from a similar place of disgust and frustration, but/and/also… motivation. There’s much opportunity here, and your words and actions are integral to our collective movement forward. Thank you!!
Thank you Bree. You’re right, we have to look for the opportunity within the struggle and allow it to motivate us to move forward. Cheers!
PS, would love your thoughts if you have space on your reading list! 😉
https://open.substack.com/pub/breestilwell/p/are-we-really-this-spineless?r=18i7qw&utm_medium=ios
Thanks!
🔛✨
I spend time outdoors, walking my dog and reading. A little tv perhaps but definitely listening to music. I do spend time on my devices, but try to do it in bits and pieces. I confess my guilty pleasure is animal and science videos.
Sounds like you have found a healthy balance. What kind of science videos do you like?
All kinds. I was not a science nerd in school, but I decided to get my geek on as an adult. Astronomy, biology, oceanography, nature, anything that can explain phenomena in plain English. The one science I excelled in was geology. Loved learning about rocks, minerals and learning to read topography maps.
That’s cool. Being able to access and learn new things like that is something the internet has gifted us!
I made an effort to get back to reading books last year. I’ve gradually been able to lock in for longer periods of time and on days off or Sundays will now read a book or my Kindle for hours at a time with my phone left on the other side of the room. It’s therapeutic I’ve learned and I feel more focused in everyday life. I send a lot less junk and meme nonsense around to friends and family too and just feel better in relationships and day to day living.
Start slowly cutting back time with your phone and it will compound to become easier day over day if you stay committed.
Great advice, Giro. Keeping your phone on the other side of the room is key. Awesome benefit of improving relationships too.
Amen to that! I’m thinking about strategies to cope with the withdrawal period. The dopamine hits are powerful and quite addictive. How are you planning to manage withdrawal?
Great question, Rochelle. For me I’m just trying to crowd out the bad with the good. So as long as I fill my day with the things I want to focus on, I just have less time to reach for my phone. I try to read in the evening with my phone out of reach. And I keep notifications off. I think if we can find enough sources of those feel-good brain chemicals outside of screens, we’ll be okay.
Just thought of carrying a small sketch pad everywhere to do quick drawings instead of reaching for my phone. We need them for safety and all sorts of reasons but I hate all the things you so aptly describe that come from unregulated, unconscious use! I don’t like that I’ve become dumber and find it so difficult to read, which used to be one of the greatest pleasures in my life. Thanks for articulating this and putting it out there.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. If drawing is your thing, I think a drawing pad is a fantastic idea! I tried carrying a notebook around for a bit but that didn’t quite catch on for me. Just keeping my phone in a zippered pocket of my bag is sometimes enough to quell the urge to pick it up.
I have found hiding my phone away at night so I can't see it really helps. I put mine in a Victorian writing bureau box. There's something appealing about the anachronism and the snapping shut of the lid!
Oh, that sounds amazing!
I agree with you, and it really is embarrassing and devastating to say this, but I had to make myself to actually read the whole thing. Not because it’s boring or bad, but because my attention span is getting shorter… I used to enjoy YouTube but now I feel videos are too long! Help.
I wish we could have back internet like it was when I was a teenager; message boards, MySpace and personal websites and blogs where people actually connected! I still talk to a lot of people from those days, the friendships might not be the same as meeting in real life but still “real”.
I think a lot of us are feeling the effects of a shorter attention span! I look at the length of a YouTube video before I even start it because I may not want to invest that much time…it’s partly because we have so much coming at us and have to be choosy about what we take in, and it’s partly that we are so used to the quick hit of dopamine that there’s no reason to have to wait.
I get what you mean about longing for the good old days. I used to churn through books like nobody’s business but now I work hard to complete a whole book. I have to set a timer to make myself keep reading for that length of tome. There are just too many distractions!
On the positive side, I think the type of connections you used to make in the early days of social media can be found here on Substack. I find it’s a bit of a throwback to a simpler time in that way. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.
It sure seems like a scary situation. At the same time it’s a giant opportunity. I’ll go outside with you, but I’m bringing my phone to take pictures.
The world is definitely changing and we have to change too.
Every single generation thought the sky was falling, the world was worse than ever, and everything was going to pot. Cave men probably saw some newfangled fire and were worried eating cooked meat was making the next generation soft.
Again, the sky is falling, and we have to dodge the pieces.
It’s our job as humans to use intention to guide our path. I intend to build relationships with real people, read real books, WRITE real books, and evolve through this.
Great insights, Tim, thanks for sharing. You’re absolutely right, it’s about being intentional, and not feeling like we are just being yanked around. As long as we hang on to our ability to choose how we spend our time and energy, we will be okay. Technology can be a great addition to our lives, it just shouldn’t be the centre and focus of our lives.
Maybe it will be the same as the resurgence of vinyl records. It might become “cool” to unplug. Except no one will know, because these new cool people won’t be on social media. They will just go silent
I have cut back a lot on social media and I know others who have gone off those platforms completely. Whatever gives us peace, we should pursue. For some of us that might mean unplugging. Or maybe doing a periodic fast from technology.
Amy, you are not the only one and I happily join you. I’m not old enough to be one of those “get off my lawn” grumpy guys, but everything is invasive these days and it’s too much. The way tech and content is must-have or life or death, and that we get left in the dust somehow if we don’t feed the machine. I dislike that.
Random question: have you seen the mid-00’s movie “Idiocracy”? I’ve thought about that movie far too often in recent years, and that’s not a good thing (even though the movie is amusing - scarily so). 😊
Glad I’m not the only one, Mike. I haven’t seen that movie but sounds like I need to check it out! Invasive is a good word for what’s happening. Dystopian even.
Amy I completely agree. I feel like we’re all in an episode of black mirror and it’s getting worse. I can stop it for myself but I do worry about society as a whole, and young generations. I do not want to be on my death bed wishing I hadn’t spent 6 hours of every day on my phone - there’s no way. 2025 I am making a change because, like you, I am absolutely not going to be a part of this - I’ve bought art books, jigsaw puzzles, a load of books, and I’m going to delete my Instagram for as long as I can, delete tik tok, not use my phone when I eat, not use before bed, limit texting, etc etc. Sick of it all.
Hi Clementine, thanks for reading and commenting. It sounds like you have a solid plan to combat what’s happening. I wish you all the best for 2025.
Good morning! 🌅☕️
I have just finished reading your post and the comments.
Yes, we are in trouble but most of us do not realize it.
I would like to recommend a book: “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence” by Dr. Anna Lembke of Stanford University. While Dr. Lembke profiles individuals with addictions to different substances and behaviours, there are useful tools, and also profiles of digital addiction.
Hope this helps. And have a beautiful, healthy day outdoors, everyone. 🚶🏻♀️🪴🌳🍁🌅
Thank you so much, Gloria! I have heard of that book but haven’t read it…yet. Have a great day.
If you’re Thelma then I’m Louise, I’m ready to take the jump too! 🙌🏼
Great post Amy, I feel the same as you.
The best days I have are when I've spent very little time on my phone, just being present and living in the moment. So many people wake up and check their phones to see what everyone else is up to instead of checking in on themselves and spending time alone.
Also some good points you make about memorising numbers etc, I hadn't thought of this before.
I wrote a similar article on the same topic, you may like it! https://stefanomiele97.substack.com/p/social-media-is-slowly-killing-you
Also, would love to find you out in nature as well, but sadly you are in Canada!
Great post!
Thanks Stefano! I appreciate your thoughtful comments and will check out your post. I think the ability to be alone without the distraction of technology may be a skill we are collectively losing. I really can’t imagine what the next 10-20-50 years will hold. If I’m still around, I guess I’ll find out!