6 Things Technology Has Stolen From Us
Do the following exercise when you have a chance: look around you while in a crowded area (the subway, the doctor’s office, a restaurant) and count how many of the people there are engrossed in their tablet or cellphone. Your observation will astound you!
Surely the percentage of “techies” will be more than 80%. All of them immersed in social networks, checking their messages, watching videos, reading their emails…and where has their life gone? Lost within Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Gmail, and the list goes on.
What’s even more astounding is the way those born after 2000 coexist with technology. From a young age they know how to use it incredibly well. A one-year-old boy knows that he has to slide his index finger across the screen to use a cellphone. A little two-year-old girl asks her mother to see how the picture she just took of her at the park turned out. And there are many more examples…
Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that technology has stolen from us?
Of course, we can’t deny that it has given us thousands of great things. Everything has its limits, though, and there is a very fine line between using these devices for necessary things and being dependent on them.
Technology has stolen some important parts of our lives. Let’s explore some of them…
1. Our own thoughts
We do not spend any time alone with ourselves. We do not meditate as we lie in bed at night. We do not sit and think about what is happening to us or what decision to make. There’s a downside to losing that downtime for our minds. When our mind is free of external stimulation, it can wander freely and help us to solve problems, have brilliant ideas, etc. Little by time, technology is killing our creativity and imagination.
2. The experience of getting lost.
What did people do before GPS? They asked a passerby, tried to decipher a paper map, or they got lost. There is nothing better than being in a city and discovering something that is not included in the tourist guides. This almost never happens because we immediately start following the map on our cellphone. Sometimes, it is necessary to get lost so that we can stumble upon the essential things.
3. The chance to form a relationship with strangers.
Returning to the travel example, before ubiquitous technology, you would ask a person who seemed to live in the area and maybe they would even become a good friend. We can also apply this within our circle of friends. Through a screen, feelings cannot be understood as well, no matter how many emoticons or songs we use; this is why we need to be face to face.
4. The sound of silence.
The western world, this world of large metropolises, is full of noises. Tranquility and balance are found in silence. We can connect with ourselves, enjoy the absence of bothersome sounds, and start getting to know precious silence.
5. The energy in our environment.
It is scientifically proven that devices like the television or computer fill a room with bad energy. This is why it is not advised to have them in th bedroom or to be using them before going to bed.
What’s more, we are so used to taking pictures of everything that we see that we lose the opportunity to truly enjoy landscapes. We cannot appreciate the grandeur, the aromas, the sounds, or the emotions of nature through the lens of a camera or the screen of a cellphone.
Start living beyond your devices!
6. Relaxation.
Before the existence of the cellphone, people communicated from time to time if they lived far apart, or even visited each other if they were close by. The anxiety that it gives us today to send a message and not receive an instant response causes us a great deal of stress. Not to mention seeing those two little blue checkmarks on WhatsApp or the “Seen at” stamp on Facebook! It can end up driving us crazy.
We even take our phones with us to the bathroom, we sleep with our devices stuck on the pillow, we leave them on our office desk or on our seat at school. It takes us less than a second to pick up when it rings.
And finally, using a cellphone so much is making you miss out on the details and the happiness of living with intensity.
When was the last time that you watched the sun go down, the rain fall, or birds fly by?
