Let’s be honest- we have all thought about it- how our phones are affecting us! This is one expose that will leave you dumbfounded and relating to just how much effect phones have on you. We subconsciously don’t know it but our smartphones affect us so much, our phones are changing the way we live. From the onset, Tony Reinke shows us how almost every aspect of our life has been affected by the invention of these powerful tools we now walk within our pockets. How life has changed in just two decades making us some of the most ‘lifeless’ creatures to roam the earth. Here are a few lessons I learned from this powerful book by renowned author Tony Reinke.
Every angel has a demon
It is true- every good thing has a bad side. This is exactly what technology has done to us. It is very convenient, efficient and fast. From one corner of the world, you can effectively communicate with someone else in another corner of the world, instantly. The world has been made a global village. With the advent of social media, interaction and communication have even been made a whole lot easier. Multiple people can work on a single project to completion without ever meeting. However, with all these positive vibes come some of the biggest problems man has ever faced: personal dissatisfaction and emotional and mental instability. So in the power that comes with the smartphone, a lot of problems have been dragged along with it.
Your Phone is Changing You
Let us not live in denial, our phones are changing us. Research as revealed by Tony and other scholars and scientists he has quoted reveals that smartphones have changed us in several ways that we do not even realize.
For starters, we have become addicted to distraction and novelty. We want something new way too often, almost more often than there is something new to experience. This new thing as well has to be very mentally engaging as our concentration span slowly shrinks. On top of all that we crave immediate approval, have lost touch with what is in our environment such as family, we fear missing out and end up losing proper literacy. Smartphones have made us ‘technological zombies’ that have subconsciously given up what matters for temporary pleasures and cravings. We become shells of ourselves.
You need to fight back
Like any addiction, you need to fight back. Kenny Rogers famously said in one of his hits ‘What matters most you can count on one hand’. This phrase hit me hard as I was going through this book. We need to realize that these powerful gadgets we wield in our hands have enslaved us but we can turn, fight back and use our phones to help us achieve even greater times in our lives. Live in the moment and enjoy what is physically near you: family, nature, and experiences. Do not be too consumed in the fear of missing out and ensure you do not text and drive- because this is the ultimate showcase of jeopardizing yourself and the people near you because of life-changing technology.
In this powerful book, Timothy Reinke draws his conclusion not only from his research but also from a world of knowledge from other sources such as research, philosophical thinkers and published materials. This has allowed him to give us an in-depth look at this very dicey subject that in the end gives us a solution to handling smartphone addiction without having to throw away our phones in the trash can. We can eventually strike a balance to effectively use our smartphones.