This past week 60 minutes did a segment on cell phone addiction and “brain hacking”. The introduction is as follows:
“Have you ever wondered if all those people you see staring intently at their smartphones — nearly everywhere, and at all times — are addicted to them? According to a former Google product manager you are about to hear from, Silicon Valley is engineering your phone, apps and social media to get you hooked. He is one of the few tech insiders to publicly acknowledge that the companies responsible for programming your phones are working hard to get you and your family to feel the need to check in constantly. Some programmers call it “brain hacking” and the tech world would probably prefer you didn’t hear about it. But Tristan Harris openly questions the long-term consequences of it all and we think it’s worth putting down your phone to listen.”
They proceed to describe how tech companies are identifying extremely effective means to get us more addicted to our mobile devices? Ultimately, we are content consumers and not customers. The “customer” title goes to the companies paying billions of dollars to get their message out through advertisements. The more successful tech companies are in creating mobile device addicts the more lucrative their product offering becomes. These companies are focused on revenue growth and market share not on social conscience and facilitating fulfillment, peace, and happiness in your life.
Tech companies are not responsible for our progress and happiness level. We are! To counteract these addict-creating tactics one must adopt the three step PSS approach to gain mobile device freedom:
- Prioritize. Identify the values and life patterns that are most important to your well being. These may include family and friend connection, meal planning, exercise, book reading, a clean home, etc. Next, consciously prioritize these activities on a daily basis prior to mobile device consumption. It is important to remind oneself that core values lead to peace and happiness not apps and social media as proven by numerous studies.
- Set Limits. Commit to a specified time limit in which you permit yourself to consume social media, apps, respond to general texts, etc. A specific minute count ensures that you don’t spend more time than originally intended browsing the device. A timer must be set to successfully and accurately manage your consumption. Once the timer begins you can give yourself completely to the device. Once the timer ends you simply turn it off and move on to the next activity. Seems so simple doesn’t it :)!
- Set Expectations: Prioritizing and setting limits may cause some in your social network to feel neglected. To manage these relationships we must communicate our newly committed behavior to prioritize life before mobile consumption. If they know of our goal they will be less offended, annoyed, and hurt when we don’t instantly respond to their text, post, or message.
Similar to most habit changing actions PSS is simple but requires a high level of discipline and commitment to implement. If we desire a more fulfilling home and work environment that produces higher levels of peace and happiness then we must be proactive in this effort. If we do so, I promise, we will be much better off as a result.
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