We know you absolutely love your smartphone. So much so that it travels with you, sleeps with you, eats with you, attends meetings with you, and if you allow me to turn a little gross here, even makes those toilet visits with you. That is some tech love!
Even as you go about trying to reading this piece of Tips & Tricks, you either have multiple browser windows opened on your screen, or a television running somewhere around you or most definitely have those earplugs on, piercing into your brain, yet there is a chance you don't remember which song was playing exactly before the current track.
You blame the technology. You say it is important. Indispensable. Overpowering. Almost to the extent of making you apathetic towards your surroundings. When was the last time you took off those earplugs or shut off those email notifications to actually listen to what the other person is saying, with absolute attention?
Okay, we are not here to preach you about abstaining from technology or keeping a white pigeon as a pet and messenger, because we can't practice that either. What we want to, rather attempt to achieve is a world where you aren't perpetually entangled in those wires. Wires to charge your phone's battery, wires of those earplugs, of that television, of that gaming console, of all things tech. Time to unplug.
Type in 'technology addiction' and over a lakh results will pop up in any search engine. Not scared? Okay, how about the serious health implications? Your crooked fingernails and that recent loss of clear eyesight isn't by birth, right? Numerous studies, worldwide, indicate how extensive use of gadgets not only seriously messes with your physical health but also has come to be associated with mental illnesses. Nomophobia? Heard of that? Well, google it and you'll know which level you just reached!
Yes, we know you are running out of attention span, but you must read on, it is about technology after all. How can you save yourself from becoming a slave to technology without missing on that one notification which for all unreal reasons is apparently life-threatening. How to make the best of both the virtual and real worlds without getting sucked into them. Read on:
1. Learn to prioritise: We know that your synced Outbook made a funny noise just when you had gorged on the first bite of your lunch. But, you can of course keep the phone aside and focus on your lunch for 20 minutes. I mean, c'mon, even if it is your termination letter, what would change if you don't read it in-between meals? Nothing.
2. Know when not to use tech: After email etiquette, time for gadget etiquette. Someone is talking to you, do not keep on those rude earplugs and instead be a sincere listener. If you have kids or have kids around you, then you must be cautious of using your gadgets. Children tend to acquire habits based on what they see around and you wouldn't want your little one to be a tech-addict at the age of five. Same goes for workplace meetings. We know you aren't taking notes when you give that excuse of sneaking inside a meeting room your 'on ringer' smartphone.
3. Impose self-limitations: Immaterial of when you get up, the first thing you do is check your smartphone. Learn to put away the gadgets when you go to bed. It is hard to do that since our early morning WhatsApp pings and late night Facebook notifications have come to define us today. However, you can always try put your phone on silent for at least two hours before you sleep so that your brain has enough time to concentrate on relaxing and not reading the latest text. Also, sleeping with your gadgets plugged in for charging near your bed is dangerous. Chances are, a short-circuit could kill you in your sleep and you don't want to die like that. Do you?
4. Limit social media usage: No one, seriously no one, cares to know where you checked in, or what you are feeling, or whether you can tweet a post only in hashtags, or you are having extremely expensive wine at an uptown bar. NO ONE. So limit how much and what all goes on the Web.
5. De clutter: Remove from your vicinity excessive, unnecessary tech stuff. Do you really need a separate MP3 player when your smartphone can play enough songs to fill your days and weeks? What about those extra pair of headphones? And that old feature phone you don't want to part away with just because it was your first phone? Clean the tech mess, lest your room ends up looking like Delhi's Nehru Place.
6. Respect 'no mobile' signs: Doctors' clinics, hospitals, museums, meditation halls, and many such places strictly ask you not to use gadgets. Yet, you keep your devices on ringer modes. Why? Leave it in the car or back home if you can, otherwise keep the buzzer off.
Lastly, your own limits will help you define how much wired are you in an excessively virtual world where all that is you isn't 'really' you.
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