I remember the days of not being connected. For some of us, we grew up in an era (think 80’s and 90’s) where technology never really ruled our lives. I used to come home from school, jump on my bike and head out into the village I lived in. Many of us have had similar experiences I’m sure.
Back in the day technology was simply an addon or an extra. I worked in a technology superstore (think Best Buy/Circuit City if you’re American or Curry’s for you English people…) in my later teenage years. I loved technology and still do to this day. Even so, I loved my car (a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro) and enjoyed being out and about.
It wasn’t until the technology changed did the little addictions to constant connectedness appear. Before then I really didn’t give a shit. I had personal connections every single day with other people. I wasn’t waiting for a ping or a WhatsApp message. And yes, things might have been less efficient without technology.
I don’t mean to write this as a way to suggest technology is bad. In fact, I still love technology. I work with it, design with it, engage with people on it and help people in recovery on it. But, I’m also keenly aware that most of us are little addicts. When that phone buzzes we jump. When a ding goes off we run to check.
I think that if we look truly at what we have to do to be untethered from our devices we can begin to see how the little addictions of techno-culture of today closely mirror that of many drugs. Research even indicates that a little hit of dopamine floods when we check the Facebook/WhatsApp/SnapChat/Steemit/Blockchain/Mining/Gaming/PokemonGO/INSERT YOUR APP OF CHOICE HERE.
I suppose I write this because I just want you to work on building some space around the technology and it’s uses. Make sure you are intentionally connecting (pun intended) with the world in the way YOU want and not the other way round. It’s all too easy to be led around by the nose by the very devices we enjoy.
People who have grown up in an era absent of constant technology will know exactly what I’m talking about. The youth of today however will never know a world without this chain tethering us to the web. We don’t truly know the impacts of this (just like the early smokers didn’t know the true effects of nicotine) kind of world we’re building so be careful.
To your recovery,
Nick
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