Social Media and Tech Addiction
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity” – Albert Einstein
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger” – Frank Lloyd Wright
Einstein and Wright had some pretty strong thoughts about technology, thoughts that are particularly prescient since they were uttered decades before the invention of the Internet and Smart Phone. Seemingly overnight we find ourselves in a tech obsessed world. Smart Phone and social media addiction are real phenomena that because of their recency are only now being fully recognized. If you don’t like the word ‘addiction’, that’s fine. The point is that many of the ‘feel good’ brain chemicals and reward loops that drive addictions are also released and activated when we check our phones (including dangerously texting while driving). Every little notification, every endless scroll, every ‘like’ or comment or share sends a surge of dopamine to our system, and soon, we’re craving that over and over again. Not only are phone and app companies aware of their product’s neurological effects but they pack their products with features that will trigger them. The goal – getting the user to come back again and again and again with the explicit goal of getting us to spend as much time and attention as possible on our devices. Why? That’s how they make big profits. Because of our 24/7 access to Internet, media, and social media we never have the opportunity to step back and see how technology is really affecting us, such as making us more and more divided as well as isolated, more stressed out as we look at people’s ‘highlight’ reels and mistake them for their ‘real’ life. Even if we stop to analyze how technology is affecting us, it’s not like we can ‘just quit’ because we are both reliant on technology for our livelihood as well as addicted to the spurts of dopamine, which should not be confused with happiness by the way, that our devices provide. So, we’re in a predicament where our devices are ruining our happiness, yet we can’t stop using them.
This program will train your brain to:
- begin to use your cell phone to enhance and support your life
- learn to bring technology into your life in ways that serve you
- take back your power by setting up and sticking to boundaries
Technology is neither inherently bad nor is it inherently good for us. It only becomes bad for us when it interferes with our happiness skills. No doubt the latter is probably how you found Direct Path Hypnosis to address this issue. We’re not proposing that you give up all technology and ditch your phones. For most of us that’s not even a possibility as we are way past the point of no return. We’re simply offering a way to build a better relationship with our phones, and in so doing, a better relationship with yourself. It’s not too late to recognize the craziness that technology can promote and to take steps to stay sane in a world that more and more encourages – and even promotes – insanity.
