MM#118--Breaking Up With Your Smartphone 📲

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser. 

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. In the 21st century, do we Americans have a smartphone addiction similar to intravenous drugs? You think I'm kidding? Seriously, I'm going to stop laughing now. Consider the following. Americans check their phones about 47 times per day. And for people between 18 and 24, the average is 82. Collectively, this adds up to more than 9 billion phone checks every day. On average, Americans spend more than four hours a day on their phones, that amounts to about 28 hours a week, 112 hours a month, or 56 full days a year. Nearly 80% of Americans check their phones. within a half hour of waking up. Half of us check our phones in the middle of the night. Among 25 to 34 year olds, it's more than less than 75%. We are using our phones so much that we're giving ourselves repetitive strain injuries such as texting, thumb and Tex neck, and cell phone elbow. More than 80% of Americans report they keep their phones near them, quote almost all the time during waking hours on quote, nearly five out of five out of 10 Americans agree with this statement. I can't imagine my life without my smartphone unquote. 

And nearly one out of every 10 American adults admits to checking their phone during sex. Yes, sex. Nearly one out of 10 American adults admits to checking their phone during sex. Unquote. Unbelievable. During sex, ha. Come on, folks. So these fascinating statistics come to us from a very intriguing book by Katherine price titled How to break up with your phone written in 2018. It offers us a very good perspective about the rapid pace of technology in the last 15 years. And I want to share this opening quote. Let's go back to the book. Today, just a over a decade since smartphones entered our lives, we're beginning to suspect that their impact on our lives might not be entirely good. We feel busy, but ineffective, connected, but lonely. The same technology that gives us freedom can also act like a leash. The more tethered we become, the more it raises the question of who is actually in control. The result is a paralyzing tension. We love our phones, but we hate the way they make make us feel. And no one seems to know what to do about it. Unquote. 

Oh, so very true, Catherine. So very true. We do feel busy, but yet ineffective. We do face that paralyzing tension of we love our phones, but we hate the way they make us feel. And here's the coup de gras. Let's go back to the book the problem. This is this is the quote from the book, quote, The problem isn't smartphones themselves. The problem is our relationships with them. Smartphones have infiltrated our lives so quickly and so thoroughly, that we have never stopped to think about what we actually want our relationships with them to look like or what effects these relationships might have on our lives. On quote. Is that not good? I mean she nails So what is really going on with our smartphone addiction? And let's face it, we all have a smartphone addiction? And her answer is you have to break up with your phone. Now now now, there is no crying and breaking up with your smartphone.


And no, we don't need to break down like a crying baby. Like a air supply love song from the 1980s. We're not talking about that type of breaking up. Jeez, folks, we are talking about being an adult and setting boundaries with our technology. And to get this Mojo minute back on the rails, we are going to go back to the book. Quote, breaking up with your phone means giving yourself a chance to stop and think. And it means noticing which parts of the relationship are working, and which parts are not. It means setting boundaries between your online and offline lives. It means becoming conscious of how and why you use your phone and recognizing that your phone is manipulating how and why you do use it. It means undoing the effects that your smartphone has had on your brain. It means prioritizing real life relationships over those that take place on screens. 

Breaking up with your phone means giving yourself the space and freedom and tools necessary to create a new long term relationship with it. One that keeps what you love about your phone and gets rid of what you don't want a relationship in other words that makes you feel healthy and happy. And over which you have control unquote. So there you go. That's a healthy place to get to in our lives with our smartphones. 

So in today's Mojo minute, what's your relationship with your smartphone? Are you running your smartphone? Or is your smartphone running and manipulating you. And if you're a parent most especially have a IGN teenager or younger, meaning someone who grew up with smartphones constantly around him. That's never known anything else than smartphones and technology. Then, you know, the catastrophic mental health issues that are bubbling up over the last five years. And they are a lot and mind you most of the surveys and test with teenagers were all done prior to COVID-19. So who knows where we're at now with all the mental health, mental health issues. So parents and pretty much all of us adults. We have to ask the question, what's our relationship with our smartphone because in the end, we are the adults that have to set the good example. 

And then our next Mojo minute, I will offer some suggestions and some ideas. But for now, try turning off your phone and sticking it in a drawer while you were at dinner. Let's start with the small little habits and try and build up to the bigger habits. So start today, the next time you're at dinner and try putting your phone away sticking it in the door sticking it in a coat pocket. Don't check it every five or 10 seconds. Let's just try dinner. Let's try one hour. It's just an hour, surely. Surely we can do that. And I hope to see you next time at that smart phone free dinner table.
Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on