Smartphones Ruining Our Lives
Your smartphone is ruining your life only because you have not defined your relationship with it; define it as a tool, and you pick it up when you need it and put it away when you are done.
Dandapani says the problem with the phone is an undefined relationship rather than the device itself. He describes his own definition, the phone as a tool like the shovel in his shed, and contrasts it with treating the phone like a partner you hold and stroke all day.
What this talk covers
- The smartphone only ruins your life because you have not defined your relationship with it.
- He treats his phone as a tool, like the shovel he keeps in his shed: he takes it out to dig the hole, then puts it back.
- If you treat your phone like a spouse, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you will caress it, hold it and love it all day long, and it becomes your life.
- Defining the relationship puts you in charge of the phone instead of letting the phone take charge of your life, your time and your energy.
Your smartphone is ruining your life only because you haven't defined your relationship with your smartphone.Dandapani
Questions
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Only because the relationship with it has never been defined. Once you decide what the phone is to you, you can be in charge of it rather than letting it take charge of your time and energy.
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Define the phone as a tool. When you need it to do something you grab it, use it, and when you are done you put it away, the same way you would use a shovel and return it to the shed.
Transcript
178 words · 1:12
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.