Around ten years back when social platforms started gaining popularity, everyone was amazed to look how Internet can change lives and what power it beholds.
Now there is an application / website for everything. Every single thing that can cross our minds. That’s really helpful, right? Well sure, up to a certain level. Our day to day lives have changed a lot since the online evolution. Now we get news in 60 words, there are online trial rooms, there is even an application for reminding us to drink water every hour for god’s sake!
Now here is where I think we have crossed a line. Using technology to simplify our lives is brilliant, but being dependent on our phones for every little damn thing of our day to day lives is kind of depressing. Sure, we don’t realize this yet, but we soon will.
There are several studies explaining the dark sides of technology, namely how the virtual world affects our state of thinking, and makes us more prone to depression, stress and anxiety. But yeah, we don’t give a fuck.
We tend to deny our level of dependence on our smartphones. We can’t give up that dopamine release when we hear the notification sounds. I think it’s time to realize our shortcomings and try to get rid of this severe addiction. Shall we?
Here are some things I tried:
- For starters, I have blocked all the notifications for all the social networking applications from my android device. Might help in focusing more on the physical than the virtual world.
- Have limited the use of service providing apps like Grofers, Paytm etc. Not that they aren’t helpful. It’s just nice to visit the market sometimes.
- Managing my time with my devices. I try to use my phone for either work or learning something. For entertainment purposes, I prefer reading a book.
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Let’s try to keep a balance between the real and virtual world. Technology is awesome, let’s just not let it empower us.
Aditya Rohilla 