Smartphones Ruining Our Lives
Your smartphone is ruining your life only because you have not defined your relationship with it; treat it as a tool you pick up when you need it and put away when you are done.
Dandapani says the problem with the smartphone is an undefined relationship. He compares his phone to a shovel kept in the shed: taken out for the job, then put back. The alternative, treating the phone like a partner you hold and stroke all day, is what turns it into your life.
What this talk covers
- Your smartphone is ruining your life only because you have not defined your relationship with it.
- A phone is a tool, like a shovel you take from the shed to dig a hole and then put back.
- If you need your phone to do something, grab it, use it, and when you are done, put it away.
- Treating your phone like a spouse or partner, holding and stroking it all day, is how it becomes your life.
- Defining the relationship is what puts you in charge of the phone rather than the phone in charge of your time and energy.
But if you treat your phone like a spouse, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, then you might have to caress it, hug it, hold it, stroke it, love it all day long, and it becomes your life.Dandapani
Questions
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Define your relationship with it. Decide that it is a tool, so you pick it up when you need it for something and put it away when you are done.
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Dandapani says it can, but only because the relationship has never been defined. Once it is defined, you are in charge of the phone rather than the other way around.
Transcript
178 words · 0:52
Your smartphone is ruining your life only because you haven't defined your relationship with your smartphone. My technology, my smartphone, is a tool for me. Just like a shovel. I have a garden that I'm creating.
I have a shovel in my shed. When I need to dig a hole, I grab the shovel, I dig a hole, I put the shovel back in the shed. My phone is no different. If I need my phone to do something, then I grab my phone, I use it, and when I'm done with it, I put it away.
But if you treat your phone like a spouse, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, then you might have to caress it, hug it, hold it, stroke it, love it all day long, and it becomes your life. So if you define your relationship with your phone,
you can be in charge of your phone as opposed to allowing your phone to be in charge of you, taking charge of your life, your time, your energy, and potentially even ruining your life.