Smart Phone Life

September 21, 2013 — digital detox, FOMO, Louis KC, smartphone

I am afraid of the  mix of media and social media consumed by the population in 2013.  There are distractions of all shapes and sizes.  Being over busy overbooked and overly self centered is a modern sign of success.  Emotional wellbeing of average people has been sinking while stability slips out of sight.  The youth will use technology in ways that are modeled by the adults they see.  When parents and other adults  lead the way to digital detox younger people may also consider life outside the smartphone.

I think the point Louis C.K. makes in this video about emotional range of motion is key.  His claim that smartphone distraction is avoidance of fully feeling sadness or happiness in favor of a phone buzz strikes me as a valid observation.  It is impossible to be engaged in meditation and smart phone love at the same time.  Some feel the attachment to the full time companion, Phoney, is destroying social skills.  I agree, but the strongest argument for limiting time and energy with Phoney is productivity.  Phoney is there to procrastinate with you, to deny reality and to take you away from all the pending doom.  It can never make you feel truly happy, but it does kill time.

Digital detox has entered the dictionary and folks are in treatment for FOMO ( fear of missing out).  This is perhaps the most ironic of all conditions…to abandon real life with no fear of missing reality in favor of never missing out on the ability to respond to a phone.   Do you know anyone who is in need of intervention for this tragic ailment?  I do, but would not know where or how to begin.