The digital world, social media, devices, streaming, and all the things, have marched in and taken the world in a huge way. And as with so many things in life, technology is neither good nor bad, it is our relationship with it that determines whether or not it is a positive, negative or both factor in our lives.
It used to be that we had resources such as time, money, and food to establish relationships with in other words how would we use those resources in our lives. Now we have technology as well.
The great news is we each get to choose what relationship we want with our devices. For some of us that might mean a tight relationship with our phones and for others, it might mean a reluctance to own one. My sisters and I gave my 90-year-old Mother a phone and after one week she returned it saying,” it was too much trouble, like having a toddler that you have to take care of”. On the other hand one of my housemates has his phone seemingly attached to his hand somewhat like a sixth finger.
It seems to me like the essential point is to answer the question ” What do we want our relationship to technology to be?” Every single week, my clients tell me that they didn’t do something or other because they we scrolling through Social Media or ” got involved with an app”. Mindless scrolling is not what they are choosing to do, it is a way of numbing feelings or ” filling time”
At the beginning of the year, I set the intention of reading more books. I noticed that in the evenings I was scrolling rather than reading. I don’t want to scroll I want to read. Scrolling is so easy and available. Reading means choosing a book and settling into it. So I got some books I like and leave my phone off in the evenings and now I am reading, which is what I choose to do rather than mindlessly scrolling.
One of my clients, a super successful lady is working on Creating the Life she Craves, full of Joyful Success is her guiding thought for 2023. Like so many of us, when she is tired, bored or unsure she turns to her devices and mindlessly scrolling for distraction from the work she wants and needs to do to achieve her Joyful Success.
My client’s homework for the week may help you as well. it is about using a litmus test before you reach for your device. Ask yourself
- Is this what I want to do right now?
- Does it align with my values?
- Does it give me energy or take away energy
- What could I choose to do instead?
- What am I avoiding by being on my device?
Remember, technology is neither good nor bad, it is neutral. We get to choose our relationship with it.
As always I hope this is helpful
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Warmly
Coach Susy,
