The past week has been an eye opening experience for me as I was losing my phone but finding my connection. I did not have access to a phone. As I waited for my phone to be replaced, I had several days where I had no access to other people as I moved about my day. But the bright side was that nobody had access to me either. It was a unique experience that really highlighted our addiction (or at least my addiction) to personalized technology. The process has crept into all parts of our lives and now we scroll around through the mindless posts of Facebook in all of our “down” moments. Life has changed, and with the focus so much on technological devices, I am afraid that many of us are losing our connection to ourselves.

Remembered The Past, No Technology

In the not so distant past, the only way you could reach someone on the phone was to call them at their home. If a person wasn’t at their residence then they were unreachable. You left a message and waited for a reply. When you left a message for me, it could be awhile, as I was never much of a fan of talking on the phone.  As I went

through the past few days,  I was reminded of those times. There is a certain freedom that people enjoyed before the electronic tether bound our hands, eyes and attention to the glow of a cell phone.

It seemed there was no chance anyone could interrupt what we were doing. My focus was not distracted by a message or a neat post on Facebook or Instagram. You never realize how much time you spend scrolling through foolishness until you don’t have that. It really took me back to a time before cell phones and the experience was a pleasant one.

What I Noticed Without Electronics

We are all creatures of habit, and the phone has become a habit that I think is not providing the healthiest of lifestyles. I was continually recognizing how much I used my phone and bringing that into my consciousness. Messages from Facebook, texts, phone calls, or many other forms of social media, are coming in at all times and they become a kind of addiction. Breaking it for a few days was an experience that revealed how controlled I am.

I found that the time I wasted scrolling mindlessly through my Facebook feed could be replaced quite easily with reading or thinking or having a conversation with someone in person. The amount of time and the things that I enhanced in my life during those days was really phenomenal. I noticed that with no phone or technology, I had more focus on all more substantial  things. I was able to increase my focus and creativity.

Can’t Fight Technology

I know that it is unrealistic to even for me to live in a world with no technology. But It is completely realistic

to live in a world with a tighter personal control on technology. I am going to be practicing some new things with technology. I already leave technology in my car when I go to the gym. That is my time to get physically healthy and not think about distracting or foolish things. No calls about business or even mindless chatter.

So I am going to add some more noncontact times to my life. One of my worst is first thing in the morning, I would scroll through Facebook as a part of my morning routine, but now I have found that time is much better spent reading something of substance. It gets the day off to a much better start.

In the End, Your Connection is Up To You

I am not sure how our society has gotten to this point. Go anywhere and almost all people are staring into some sort of technological device. That makes the actual human contact, eye contact, connections very limited. I think that it also makes our lives a little less rich and a lot less fun. People and their unique personalities are the garnish that makes life so delicious. Through technology, all relationships are filtered and often you only see a fabricated version of the person.  In real life encounters, there are more substantial connections built and thoughts conveyed.

I encourage all people to cut the electronic tether for large portions of the day and replace it with activities that lead to growth and interaction.  There was a time when technology didn’t invade all of life and that is a place where your freedom just might live.  How could you cut down your use of technology and improve your life?