Technology is a mixed blessing. That which was supposed to make us free, can enslave us. If you’ve got X thousand e-mails waiting to be processed or have become a
Facebook addict you know what I mean. A problem is that while technology evolves quickly, our behaviour and social strictures to deal with it take longer. We’re in this lag now, but I say hey, why not embrace it, so here’s my tongue-in-cheek guide to sending yourself utterly bonkers using the interwebbynet and mobile technology.
Have no time boundaries
Check your mail, messages and social media before you get up in the morning and last thing at night. If you can learn to sleep-text as well to get some action in the middle of the night.
Have no space boundaries
Now we’ve got smartphones we can get online anywhere right?!! Make use of this in the bathroom, bedroom, at the dinner table, in the cinema, etc. Nowhere is sacred!
Never Stop!
Pausing is the enemy of insanity. For best results in ruining your brain it’s those restful pauses that need to be eliminated. Faster, faster, more!
Prioritise technology over people
You’re at dinner with a loved one, you get a text, what do you do? Stop talking and check your phone of course! Take regular Facebook breaks from social interaction. Go to the toilet if you need to.
Use technology to escape feelings
Feelings are difficult, and while being with this unease may be the only route to personal growth, it doesn’t feel good. But don’t worry, the internet can transport you away from your body to far away safe places. Lonely and isolated? Don’t worry, remember those social media breaks! All the fun of social interaction without any of the risks of venerability and embodied emotional resonance and connection.
Getting Addicted to “The Hit”
Every time you get an e-mail, and certainly when you get a little “like” on Facebook, Youtube or whatever, you also get a little dopamine hit. These real neurological drug squirts can also be seen as “strokes”, a basic unit of social reward in transactional analysis. In addiction studies unpredictable reward systems that we quickly habituate to are notorious and most social media is deliberately designed this way – e.g. there are no “dislikes” on Facebook. The trick is not to be aware of or question the hit but just to chase it! More more more more more!!!
How to be healthy and sane with technology
This is a pretty blatant example of what we call a reversal in creativity training and blogging training and if you want to stay happy, healthy and sane you need good boundaries and to not do many of the things in this article. I’m guessing you’re smart enough to reverse the reversal. Lest anyone think I’m a luddite I’d also like to point out
I love technology and social media in particular, I just think we need to use it wisely and combine the new with the old. Like many people today I struggle with some of the issues outlined above and while I’m joking I’m also not.
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