You’re out to dinner with your family, and you feel the all-too-familiar buzz of the phone in your pocket…
Is it a work email? A text from a friend? Maybe it’s another spam call trying to convince you the warranty on your car is about to expire. Regardless, you realize that you’ve missed the second half of your son’s story about his big save in the soccer game during recess.
This isn’t how you want to be with your family when you’re having quality time together.
Technology, with its buzzes, dings, and chimes is designed to get—and keep—our attention. Bringing mindfulness to our relationship with technology can help us make the most of its strengths, and mitigate the impacts of its challenges.
Here are three ways you can apply mindfulness to your technology use:
- Notice your feelings when you’re engaging with technology in different ways. Does it feel good to be able to check off a bunch of emails first thing Monday morning? Do you feel a bit off after scrolling Instagram for an hour? Bringing awareness to technology’s emotional pros and cons in your life is an essential first step.
- When you find yourself reaching for your phone to escape the line at the grocery store, see if you can engage in a mindfulness exercise instead. What are five things you see? Four things you can touch? Three things you can hear? Two things you can smell? One thing you can taste?
- Consider your technology before beginning activities. Is this something that you need your phone for? Can you put it on “do not disturb” or away in your bag? Removing the temptation prompted by notifications can help you stay more present.
- Bring your attention to your body. What position do you find yourself in while scrolling through social media or play that game? Are you tense? Sitting in an uncomfortable position unwittingly? Relaxing the muscles you don’t need to be engaging could make for more relaxing technology use.
Our relationship with technology will continue to evolve. Mindfulness can be a helpful tool as we aim to manage our connection to technology…so the technology doesn’t manage us. Focused Solutions can help you build your mindfulness skills and support you in managing your relationship with technology. Contact us here for support.
