I’ve never been addicted to a substance. I’ve never been drunk – though I enjoy beer, I’ve never smoked cigarettes – though I do smoke cigars, but there’s not anything, not even Ibuprofen or caffeine, that I “have” to have. I did have withdrawals when I stopped drinking diet soda about 13 years ago. In fact I went essentially blind – no joke – for about 5 minutes a day every day for a week after I stopped. That was apparently the aspartame leaving my nervous system. I also stopped coffee one time years back and almost died. Now I can have it or not have it and am okay either way. All of this to say that even though I’m not a substance abuser I have had my fair share of “detoxing.” But detoxing from my smartphone… whoa.
A couple of years ago I left Facebook. I was off of it for over a year and didn’t miss it at all. In fact I returned only to use it as a tool; as it should be used. I don’t get annoyed with it anymore really because I still don’t care. Leaving Facebook was easy. But I still had Instagram and I still had my smartphone. I didn’t change my habits of picking it up, looking at it, putting it down, picking it up again. That was all still there even if Facebook wasn’t.
There are many articles out there about how real smartphone detoxing is. As one article says smartphones are like a drug. The cause compulsive, addictive behavior, and are rewiring our brains; decreasing our memory and attention spans as well increasing our anxiety. Quitting them causes feelings of depression and, yes, more anxiety.
So what’s the “clincher” for this post? What’s the take-away anecdote that you can think about tomorrow and smile? There isn’t one. I just hope that if you’re reading this you’ll think about your smartphone usage and what it may be doing to you. That’s it.