WELLBEING | Texting and Whales – Why We Need Time Away From Our Tech

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Could this be it? The moment we finally come to realise just how ludicrous our addiction to technology really is?

The story,  Man glued to his phone misses rare humpback whale sighting, was reported by the Telegraph on February 5th 2015. The article was paired with a perfectly captured picture, that beautifully illustrates the modern disconnection many of us have, with the beauty and wonder of the natural world, aware of everything and nothing at the same time.

Texting man misses rare whale

Photo: @esmith_images/Instagram​

Content shock is a phrase coined to illustrate the ever increasing weight of content that we are constantly bombarded with, and to facilitate the consumption of this content, technology has evolved to ensure that no matter where we are, or what we are doing, we always have access to this never ending stream.

We need to start questioning our heavy use of mobile devices, instead of the Pavlovian scroll which can easily see minutes, even hours disappear, we need to stop and think about what that scrolling is achieving. Are there better ways to kill time? How is what you consume online, particularly on social media making you feel? Does it have a positive contribution to your life and if so, how big is that, and how relatively important?

Evaluating My Own Online Habits

In my every day life, I am a digital marketing consultant. It’s my job to know what’s going on and it’s my job to use social media.

Really though, if I find out about an industry announcement or hear about a new feature added to Instagram a few hours or even days after other people do – will that really damage my ability to do my job or dent my reputation? Probably not.

I don’t care about being first to comment or report on something and I don’t need to be constantly connecting during my down-time in order to make me good at my job.

Suffering From Constant Over Stimulation

The constant checking of my Google news feed, news alerts,  emails, streams and updates has become automatic, and that’s something I want to stop in order to reclaim my brain and to give me more time back for more productive endeavors.

Hell, I’d rather spend a 2 hour train journey with my phone in my bag, daydreaming as I gaze out of the window more than I’d want to watch something or listen to a podcast or mindlessly scroll my social media feeds because the benefits of that day-dreamy downtime far exceed the benefits of having my brain filled with yet more random ‘content’.

So I’ve decided, I am fed up of having my attention constantly pulled this way and that. I am frequently stressed out and feel like I’m forever chasing information, which is largely, just not that important.

It has got to the stage where I can think of very few benefits that being always connected gives me. When I am out walking, I find GPS on my smartphone super useful and when I visit a new city, I find being able to Google somewhere to eat useful too, of course, but that’s pretty much it.

We seem to have reached a juncture where we place so much relative importance on being always connected, we simply don’t question it.

Watching iPlayer on a long train journey may be regarded as providing a welcome distraction. Listening to a podcast on the way to work is a handy way of consuming information, but really, how much of a negative impact on my life would there be if I were no longer able to do those things? I genuinely feel that not doing those things would actually have a positive impact.

We seem to have reached a juncture where we place so much relative importance on being always connected, we simply don’t question it.

We just assume it is a necessity, but when you start to actually think about it, for many of us, that just isn’t the case.

Lack of Focus Makes Us Less Productive and Contributes to Stress

Constant connectivity is making my brain schizophrenic. I find it almost impossible to focus on one thing at a time. I’m constantly, obsessively checking my various social media feeds. I’m forever distracted, jumping from one thing to another and frankly, it wears me out and is actually pretty stressful.

Constant arousal leads to higher levels of stress, whilst social media is well known for its ability to activate the dopamine reward centres of our brain, making it addictive. These are not good things.

In The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, a book I highly recommend reading, he theorises that the changing way in which we consume information (the internet) is responsible for the increased levels of distraction we now face. A plethora of writers are wondering just what technology is doing to our brains, whilst psychology and neuroscience researchers are revealing some pretty scary truths, showing us, that thanks to brain plasticity, our brains are actually changing how they function.

You might argue that this is a good thing; that as humans our brains are quickly adapting to the increased loads they are under, and so are becoming better suited to dealing with information overload. This however does not mean it is good for our wellbeing.

The Desire & Need To Disconnect

My desire to walk, camp and exist in the natural world away from constant distraction and digital noise is becoming ever more acute.

From personal observation, I have learned that being constantly connected actively destroys my productivity, banishing all potential for achieving flow. Instead of focusing and putting all my energy into a single task, my attention is split, meaning nothing benefits from my full scrutiny. Day after day, low level stress and anxiety builds up, eroding my sense of wellbeing.

The easiest way for me to recharge my mind and to reset my stress levels, is to disconnect. I go away for a weekend and spend it in a tent. I take my phone, but I leave it on flight mode, and only use it when needed.

I won’t lie, I find it a challenge, and still, the temptation and desire to post a picture on Instagram is overwhelming. I don’t always win, but I make a concerted effort, and I always feel better for it.

Ironically, without paying constant attention to a never ending stream of content, I would not have so quickly known about the man texting and missing the whale story. Just think, I might be writing this blog article one, or even two days after the news broke. How unthinkable.

Next time you feel compelled to reach for your phone or tablet for no good reason, you are taking your attention elsewhere and risk further cluttering your mind, whilst loosing the ability to see, focus and appreciate the life going on all around you.

We need downtime to thrive and if you’ve ever felt overloaded, stressed or anxious, it could just be your body’s way of telling you it’s time to turn the tech off, and spend some time in the here and now, paying greater attention to the people around you and spending more time in the natural world.

Where to next?