Perhaps this is common sense to some people, but for me, this has really improved my relationships, even if in a small way.
I have always been into technology. Once the iphone 3 came out my life changed forever in many positive ways, but there was a downside. Habitually and even subconsciously checking my phone. It seems half the time it's automatic, there is no motive or necessity in checking my phone, my brain just does it as habit. There have been times I don't even remember doing it, until after the fact, lol.
The problem is many of these times I am at the dinner table, out on a date with my wife, talking with my kids or friends, or any other real life social situation. There I go again, automatically looking at the phone in a pause of conversation, checking for recent social media updates, not even reading them or caring, just scanning.
Recently while people watching, I have noticed the same, it isn't just me, we all have a phone addiction. That might not be such a bad thing, it is the way society is now. The problem becomes when it is more important than real life social interaction. More important than the people you are around at that very moment in time.
It started to scare me, not the fact that this is now society, and me, but the fact that I needed to do something, something drastic, like not use my phone as much. Or even worse, a technology fast. Like most addicts, giving up the drug was the most scary part. So I did what most do, I ignored that I had to do something, lol.
I stumbled on a more simple and practical solution. One evening, when I was enjoying a cigar, as usual, my son comes in my office and sits on the couch. We chat for a while, not about anything super serious, but then there I go again, looking at my phone, commenting on posts, getting involved online with people I barely know. This time, like a ton of bricks, or a self smack in the face, a question popped into my head: At this very moment, is what you are doing on your phone, more important than what is going on around you?
This question, I now by habit ask myself any time I pick up my phone, has actually changed my life. It has been a simple fix to a problem I knew I had. No technology fasting needed. Sometimes the answer is yes my phone is more important than what is going on around me, for example, texting my wife while I am watching TV. However many times I find myself putting the phone back down, because it can wait, social media content will still be there, but what is going on around me will not.
At this very moment, is what you are doing on your phone, more important than what is going on around you?
-Greg