We have become, in a very real sense, cyborgs. Our phones, tablets, and laptops are extensions of our minds — storing our memories, managing our relationships, answering our questions before we have finished asking them. Never in human history has this much information been this accessible. It is genuinely remarkable.
It is also becoming a problem.
I say this as someone who loves technology. I am constantly taking online courses, pulling up obscure facts on a whim, texting friends rather than calling them, reading on a Kindle. I do not think technology is inherently good or bad. Like most tools, it depends entirely on how we use it. And increasingly, it is using us.
As an extension of the mind, our devices fill the mind with everything the mind generates — emails, notifications, other people’s highlight reels, the low-grade anxiety of feeling perpetually behind. It is not uncommon to see two friends sitting together, both absorbed in their phones, texting someone who isn’t there. The person right in front of them, missed entirely.
The invitation is simple, if not easy: step away from it sometimes. Turn the phone on silent. Close the laptop. Let the notifications wait.
This will almost certainly trigger the fear of missing out. Good. Invite it in. Sit with it. Ask what it actually has to show you. In my experience the answer is usually: not much. What you were missing was the world right here in front of you — quieter, slower, and considerably more real than anything happening on a screen.
Unsubscribe from the email lists you never read. Go outside. Bring a friend if you like, or go alone and experience the unfamiliar pleasure of your own company without a device in your hand.
It’s a strange idea. But it will be okay. I promise.