Cell Phones - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Smart Phones! What an amazing little device and yet so powerful and so destructive at the same time if we don’t use it wisely. Like uncle Ben says to Peter Parker in Spider Man “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility!” I just want to raise your consciousness around this topic in hopes to create less stress and less anxiety that’s caused from these devices.
You see, whenever we use our Smart Phones, it gives us a hit of dopamine (feel good chemical) from our brain that keeps us wanting more. Hence why we crave it after a period of not using it because it makes us feel good. At the same time, it trains our frontal lobe of our brain to be easily distracted which is one of the reasons why ADD and ADHD has risen 66% in the past 10 years. Dopamine is highly addictive and one of the symptoms of a dopamine addiction to technology is distractibility which makes it harder for us to connect to the present moment and therefore can make us feel more anxious.
On the other hand, Smart Phones can be a great tool when it comes to;
Convenience, from having access to all information at our finger tips to being able to reach our destination no matter where we are in the world just by entering an address in our GPS
It teaches us to be resourceful and find the answers we’re looking for in a matter of minutes.
It allows us to connect to our loved ones who are far away!
It’s a great promoting tool when it comes to starting or growing your business.
I mean it’s definitely a practical tool that allows us to do pretty much everything we want but unfortunately it comes at a cost with the following negative side effects such as;
Affecting our level of anxiety as I previously mentioned
Affecting our quality of sleep as the blue light from our screens affect the production of melatonin, (the hormone that controls your sleep/wake cycle)
Affecting our memory because we’re relying on our phones to remember even the most basic information like phone numbers,
Affecting our social connections in the real world making us feel isolated.
Affecting our level of empathy and compassion towards others, especially if we’re constantly disconnected from the real world.
It’s so important for our physical and our mental health to not give away all of our power to our smart phones and the best way we can do that is by implementing these small practices where we can use our phones wisely and responsibly.
Avoid checking your phone first thing in the morning, unless it’s for putting on music or listening to something that will serve your personal growth and development or skill development. Give yourself at least 60 minutes of no phones first thing in the morning.
No phones at least 20 minutes before bed time, instead you can read, meditate, stretch, journal or play board games with you loved ones.
Schedule your usage time for social media guilt free for 60 minutes each day.
I hope this blog brings clarity on the severity of how our smart phones can cause more harm than good if we abuse it and that by implementing these best practices helps reduce your level of stress and anxiety so you can live fully. I look forward to hearing from you so please comment down below and let me know if this blog post served you in any way, shape or form.
Until next time, remember, keep progressing on your own journey towards health & wellness.
Cheers
Nancy Pitre, Certified Holistic Health Coach
