Have you ever imagined a day in your life without a phone?
Imagine a Sunday, free from any professional commitments and there is no phone and no online access. What would you do? How would you spend the day? Which thoughts would cross your mind?
Well, I was thinking about this since a while ago, and one day my mother remarked that people these days are addicted to their phones & act like slaves in front of technology, which was initially only made to cater to our basic needs of making communication easy. That just stuck my head and I decided to prove her wrong and challenge myself too that I can go incognito whenever I want, not acting as a slave to it. I thought to give this thought a try.
So, I purposefully, switch off my phone, on a Sunday, and put myself on a pedestal. It was done purely to let this experience enrich me with some better thought-provoking ideas, to understand the importance of time, to learn to actually be with my inner self and just give challenge to my capabilities & boundaries.
Now, let me be honest, I was initially petrified of the fact that what would I do without WhatsApp /Instagram and a phone! And for the first few hours my mind was constantly reminding me of checking my phone’s notifications, just like I usually do at regular intervals. So, I learnt my first lesson, WE ARE WHAT WE FEED OUR MIND.
A research paper showed how anxiety and mental health related issues, depression and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) are increasing these days which are especially experienced by teens and young adults and one in five cases of such have been reported stress related issues due to the constant need to check notifications have online presence & scrolling on the phone.
It is so basic yet we, as humans feel so frivolous in front of a damn phone that we fail to realize our brain is a god gifted supercomputer which possesses endless capabilities.
Going back to my day, I resisted my urge to check the phone at regular intervals and spent that time, studying about professional developments in my field, upgrading my knowledge and sending quality time with my family.
I took a day full of relaxation and reflecting back upon my year, slept for short while and pulled out my creative plugs for an art date with myself. This summed up my time and out of 24 hours, only 7 hours were left.
Thereafter, I planned an outing with my mother to the Lodhi Gardens. Oh, what do I tell you about the charm of this place, the endless chirping of the birds and the people bathing in the glory of the Sun.
Some playing cards, some playing with their dogs, some talking to their loved ones & taking pictures, some eating delicious meals and some lost in their own world. And I was just observing and taking it all in. Actually, all of it was more beautiful without the phone.
I came home full of beautiful memories & had something to takeaway from each thing happening around me, unlike when we have our earbuds on, we tend to miss on even people talking to us.
And last two hours were spent eating food (minus the food with phone!)
So, at the end of the day I was content and would sum up to say that my decision to switch off my phone for one day was full of introspection, brought in a lot of self-reflection and it triggered a little more self-control than before which was missing as I have this habit of constantly scrolling through social media. Making new habits take time but its always one day at a time. Also, whenever you do keep your phone away from your surroundings, you feel less burdened by the judgements of the society about how you look and feel which makes you feel lighter at the end of the day.
We all know how these days, kids don’t do the hustle of reading the newspapers for vocabulary & current affairs and dictionary to look for meanings, as they all have I-pads to their rescue.
However, the importance of keeping the phones away during sometime of the day or doing social media detox should be taught to the young generation during growing up years itself.
These are my thoughts & I love sharing my experiences. Do comment and let me know about what do you feel about addiction to phones in the youth of today.
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The author is a practicing DISA Qualified Chartered Accountant & Partner in Naveen Jain & Co. She can be reached at [email protected] your queries.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are strictly of the author. The contents of this article are solely for informational purpose. It does not constitute professional advice or recommendation of firm. Neither the author nor firm and its affiliates accepts any liabilities for any loss or damage of any kind arising out of any information in this article nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
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