22 min
LAWK 13 - How your phone is changing your Brain Chemistry LAWK: Life Advice with Keon
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- Personal Journals
This is a collaboration with Sweating the Small Stuff! Please go listen to their episode "019 - The Social Trap" on Black Mirror's Smithereen. I make a guest appearance and it's a hoot!
Black Mirror is never a show to shy away from the horrific elements of technology. However, Season 5 Episode 2 titled "Smithereen" is one of the few episodes that focuses the "mirror" on something universally understood today. Social Media. The Company Smithereen is so similar to the social media of today that the parallels are obvious. But instead of making the comparisons dystopic, Black Mirror shows how the simplest intentions can ripple into tragic consequences.
By constantly refining the excitement and pleasure we feel from social media, Facebook and companies like it have created mental reliance. Like B.F. Skinner and his birds, Social media has trained us to have a positive learned response to our phones, that keeps us wanting more. Though the word "addiction" may be strong, people have become emotionally reliant on their phones. I myself find it hard to fight the quick glance at my phone during dull moments.
But it is not all doom and gloom. We can fight our reliance on Social media by making the separation between ourselves and our phone more concrete. Turn off your notifications. That way you will not receive the instant gratification of a satisfying ringtone.
Don't take your phone everywhere. If you are in your home, leave your phone in one room. Don't take it with you. That way you know where it is . If you need it, you can go to that specific room, use the phone and then return to what you were doing.
Finally, utilize mindfulness practices when you feel you're running on "autopilot". If you have taken your phone out for the 20th time just to check notifications and not actually check the time or google something you need. Then it's worth taking a moment and re-evaluating your mental state.
Phones are a tool, and I don't remember ever fighting the urge to check a hammer or screwdriver. Use your phone and social media as the means to connect you to people and not as a distraction from the important things in your life.
Support LAWK: Life Advice with Keon by donating to the tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/lawk-life-advice-with-keon
Find out more at http://lawkcast.com
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
This is a collaboration with Sweating the Small Stuff! Please go listen to their episode "019 - The Social Trap" on Black Mirror's Smithereen. I make a guest appearance and it's a hoot!
Black Mirror is never a show to shy away from the horrific elements of technology. However, Season 5 Episode 2 titled "Smithereen" is one of the few episodes that focuses the "mirror" on something universally understood today. Social Media. The Company Smithereen is so similar to the social media of today that the parallels are obvious. But instead of making the comparisons dystopic, Black Mirror shows how the simplest intentions can ripple into tragic consequences.
By constantly refining the excitement and pleasure we feel from social media, Facebook and companies like it have created mental reliance. Like B.F. Skinner and his birds, Social media has trained us to have a positive learned response to our phones, that keeps us wanting more. Though the word "addiction" may be strong, people have become emotionally reliant on their phones. I myself find it hard to fight the quick glance at my phone during dull moments.
But it is not all doom and gloom. We can fight our reliance on Social media by making the separation between ourselves and our phone more concrete. Turn off your notifications. That way you will not receive the instant gratification of a satisfying ringtone.
Don't take your phone everywhere. If you are in your home, leave your phone in one room. Don't take it with you. That way you know where it is . If you need it, you can go to that specific room, use the phone and then return to what you were doing.
Finally, utilize mindfulness practices when you feel you're running on "autopilot". If you have taken your phone out for the 20th time just to check notifications and not actually check the time or google something you need. Then it's worth taking a moment and re-evaluating your mental state.
Phones are a tool, and I don't remember ever fighting the urge to check a hammer or screwdriver. Use your phone and social media as the means to connect you to people and not as a distraction from the important things in your life.
Support LAWK: Life Advice with Keon by donating to the tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/lawk-life-advice-with-keon
Find out more at http://lawkcast.com
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
22 min