According to statistics just released earlier this month, Americans check their cell phones 110 times a day on average, which means although you may be one of the few that check it less than that, there are many others who check it much more than that! Why are we addicted to our cell phones? Does it make us feel connected by reading strangers' posts? Does it make us feel more important if something we post gets enough "likes" or "shares"? Have our attention spans gotten so short that we can't sit still for 3 minutes without pulling out our phones, ESPECIALLY WHILE DRIVING!!! But that's for another post someday.
We in America have become so addicted that the statistics are terrifying, according to one article (of many):
10 Terrifying statistics about cell phone addiction
How can you learn to live simply when you complicate your life on purpose this way? Today's challenge is to shut off notifications. I know the first objections will be things like, "I need it for work." That's not what I mean. I mean shut off notifications on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or whatever other social media you're on. You can still make a point to go to that app and use it, but you don't need it to make your phone go off every few minutes all day long when most of it is frivolous stuff - things like notifications telling you someone "liked" your post, or some product or company just posted on their page, or a friend of a friend commented on something you posted a week ago. Let it go. Turn them off for a day.
What about if we turned our phones completely off either while driving to our next destination, or else during the next time we sit down to eat with our family, friends, or relatives? You know what? There are still millions of us around who've lived long enough to remember life before cell phones. I know this will be hard for people under 30 to believe, but we still managed to get where we were going. We knew how to have conversations. We went to gatherings and parties and barbecues without wondering who was commenting on something someone else said who wasn't even there. We at dinner without interruptions, and if the house phone did ring, you let it go to the answering machine. People waited in line at the grocery store for 5 minutes without having to see what was going on in Beyonce's life (or whoever was popular at the time). People took their toddlers to the park and WATCHED them, interacted with them, instead of now how they let them run off while they stare at their phone screen. We found ways to kill time in doctor's offices and dentist offices - we read books, or did crossword puzzles, or talked to people around us. We did things to make us smarter. I cringe at the whole attitude of "here's my mind, fill it with whatever you want, entertain me!"
I'm not against cell phones but to live simply, you have to see it differently. It's a tool. If my car breaks down, I have it to call for help. If I need to tell someone I'm running late (before I leave or after I pull over somewhere), then fine. If I need a map because I'm not in a city laid out in a grid with major intersections for markers, great. But my phone is for MY convenience. It's not for everyone in the world who wants to call me, not for telemarketers to sell me things, not for strangers to notify me of things unsolicited. It's for ME. It's so I can speak to those closest to me and they can reach me when they need to, or during the only time they have to speak to me because of their job.
Take a day and shut off your notifications. See what a day is like when you finally pick your head up and look around. See the beauty in nature around you, the architecture in the buildings you pass, the faces of the people you often ignore as they serve you your food, or coffee, or ring up your purchases. Treat people like they're more important than scrolling through social media, because they are.
Like you always hear from The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Milburne and Ryan Nicodemus, "Love people and use things because the opposite never works."
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