I have a glamorous black and white checked, pink trimmed Kate Spade iPhone case that has a built-in auxiliary battery in case, heaven forbid, my phone should run out of juice when I am far away from charging power. If I take a lot of pictures, and I usually do, it uses up even more power. My phone is the first thing I reach for in the morning (sorry honey) – because it is my alarm and I have to shut the snooze off every 15 minutes for an hour. This is my early rise breaking in method. I have to be up in absolutely no later than one hour from now so I need to start getting used to the idea. I am pretty sure this is not great for REM sleeping as I am just pretending to be asleep after that first alarm.
Did anybody text me overnight? Did anyone put anything interesting on Facebook while I was sleeping? Did I miss out on anything? FOMO (fear of missing out).
I am just clamoring for news…any news…I even fall for fake news. And most mornings I am disappointed because there is nothing new under the sun and there is no good news really. I can’t remember the last time I heard good news in the media.
Most of the news flashes I see on Facebook, require a consult to SNOPES just to find out if it’s legit or not. Usually, it’s not – that tells me something. I loved the one about the millions of spider eggs that were implanted into the original TY bean babies that my kids collect for years and we eventually sent to Samaritan’s purse for shoeboxes and how now, 20 years later, the eggs were hatching and spiders were pouring out of the beanie babies. Please!
On any typical day, my alarm goes off and I fumble for my phone and hit snooze. Most days I grab my phone and head to the bathroom.
Yes folks, I take my phone to the bathroom with me. There isn’t that much time in the morning. A quick check of Facebook, Instagram, and my email and I usually get totally distracted.
My alarm goes off a few more times as I am getting ready for work and then just before I pull out of the garage I look one more time in case anyone else is up at this ungodly hour sending me texts or posting earth shattering news. Not that earth shattering news is appropriate to be posted on Social Media. That kind of new requires a phone call or a face-to-face meeting. But I really try not to look at my phone when I am driving so I drop it in my purse so that on the off chance that I get stopped for anything I would have to dig around for a few minutes to produce my phone thereby proving that I am not distracted driving.
My iPad finds its night time home on the floor next to my bed as well.
But there is life outside and above social media and iPhones and iPads. There are real people. Electronics and social media have their place and can be used for good when not used for evil. All of it is truly amazing when you really stop and think about it. I just have to work out a reasonable, doable plan to withdraw myself from the addiction. We can lose true connection with real people when we rely on electronic relationships.
In any case, I must give my head a vigorous shake. I should know better than to let this tiny, flat, 2 ½ by 5-inch piece of wire, metal, glass and electronics rule my life.
I think it’s time to implement some rigid parameters.
Guidelines that would allow me to use my technology for good and not evil.
Some Ideas to save myself from my own devices (pun intended):
- Charge my phone in the kitchen overnight and get a real alarm clock by my bed instead.
- Limit my use of Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram. Set some boundaries.
- Spend more time using my iPhone as a phone and inviting people for face-to-face coffee or dinner. Work on my real relationships.
- Don’t believe everything I see and hear and read on Social Media.
- Pursue live hobbies such as sewing, painting, cooking, music, exercise, writing and spend less time checking my phone.
And the last one that needs to be immediately implemented — Do not take iPhone to bed-ever.
