A little while ago, I was at a restaurant with my family. Whenever we go out, we have a rule--we all keep our phones face down on the table and we don't take them till it is time to leave. Similarly at home, we have the rule 'No phones at the dining table'. We follow this rule diligently. The rule is not just for the children but for the parents too. No one is allowed to flout it.
At the restaurant, there was another family seated next to us. There was a father, a mother and two grown kids. Each of the family members were engrossed in their phones, and never even looked up. They all ate their meals silently.
Let's face it---we're all addicted to our phones to a large extent. If you are like most of us then you feel uncomfortable and restless if you do not check your phone every twenty minutes or so, sometimes even lesser.
Those goblins called Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have us on a leash, and we do what they bid, without even realising it or giving much thought to it.
A few months ago, I started making another change to my routine. I have a hammock in my garden upstairs on the terrace. What I began doing was leaving my phone downstairs in my room, and heading over to the hammock with a book. I don't leave the hammock till I finish 50% of the book.
This has boosted my tally of books read. This year I have read 35 books, in addition to writing two.
When we are stuck to out phones, what we are doing is taking away time from our LIFE. These are precious moments which we will never get back. When we deliberately start putting away our phones, for about 2-3 hours in a day, we realise how much we have been controlled by the phone. We find ourselves with more time in the day.
There are up-sides to social media.
But when the phone takes over your life completely, then you are creating a huge problem which will be difficult to control later on.
What do you do to fight your phone addiction? Do you do anything at all?
Do you think you are addicted?
Tell me in comments.
Love
preeti
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