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Your device is just a tool
It is not part of you
You are more addicted to your device than you think
Right now a teenager is photoshopping their selfie because as a society we're telling them
They're not good enough
Internet is like a slot machine
You never know what you're gonna find inside and this variability the reward
releases dopamine the neural Harmon of pleasure and anticipation of the reward
Every time we check our phone were playing the slot machine to see what did I get right every time that we?
Check our email
We're playing the slot machine to see what did I get or if you're on a tint dating site like tinder and?
When you're swiping each, swipe is you're playing the slot machine to see did I get a match
I'm playing the slot machine to see did I get a match and the problem is that this
Dynamic these variable schedule rewards or the slot machine mechanic is so powerful that it's that
It's the best thing in addicting people and putting you in the zone
The first milk you feel excited
But then you have to go back and take a new dose
To feel her to have the same feeling we're so afraid we're missing out so use the Facebook newsfeed and the Instagram use
Newsfeed and Twitter to see what others are doing
But actually what we are is we are missing out on the real world on reality
And you need to go back to your device to feel good again
Technology is purposefully designed the way to make you use it over and over again
Have you noticed if you ever log into Twitter as an example
So there's an extra delay that you don't know how long it's gonna take between two and three seconds
Where that the number of new notifications on Twitter you have so why is that there well it makes that?
Into a what's called a variable schedule award
It's like a slot machine, so you're playing the slot machine, and there's a time delay
And you're in that time delay your anticipations building
And then you get to see how many notifications like that and so you become more addicted to checking it again the next time
You know each of us have to tune in for our own experience
And what what does it feel like when we check our phones 150 times a day?
Or what does it feel like if we've been scrolling and had our face down and not breathing very much when we're scrolling for
Say 20 minutes. I mean how do we feel on the inside? How do you feel on the inside?
I feel like I don't feel very good after that. I feel like my anxiety goes up I feel
More concerned about what I'm missing
What I'm missing out on who I haven't gotten back to oh
I you know people think that I'm bad at getting back to them all of this sort of
Psychology emerges all because of this one thing in my pocket
And we've never had a media device that literally a billion people
Are kind of being programmed in the same way where so much influence is in the hands of a few?
Technology designers
If you want to change your digital habits do not rely on you willpower
instead
Create structures around you to support you that
Our brain is very lazy
So when we repeat a certain action over and over again? It's that's organizing our brain cells neurons
into particular chains
If you're sitting at dinner with your friends, and you're texting somebody who's not there
That's a problem
That's an addiction if you're sitting in a meeting
With people you're supposed to be listening to and speaking and you put your phone on the table face up or face down
I don't care that sends a subconscious message to the room and you're not just just not that important
Right, that's what happens and the fact that you cannot put it away is because you aren't addicted right if you wake up and you
Check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend boyfriend, or spouse you have an addiction and like all addiction in time
It'll destroy relationships. It'll cost time and it'll cost money. That'll make your life and worse
For any company whose business model is advertising or engagement based advertising
Meaning they care about the amount of time someone spends on the product
You know they make more money the more time people spent so the game becomes how can I throw different?
persuasive techniques to get people to stay to spend as long as possible and to come back tomorrow I
Think the problem is when when people want to be
socially and socially connected
Constantly no matter what they're doing mm-hmm and that I think keeps people from actually fully experiencing whatever they're actually doing
Have you ever been in a moment you're sitting there, and you just start using your phone to do something productive
Maybe you're in the back of the car at a taxi or you're on public transportation
You know your phone is always giving you a way to spend time
That's that can be more productive more entertaining or more stimulating than reality
How many times are you checking your smartphone in front of your children and what kind of behavior is that modeling?
You know if you're a couple leave leave the cell phones at home and go out to dinner
Actually talk people like wow really I?
Challenge everyone to take a 48 hour digital detox in your own life. Maybe it's Friday night
You plug the phone on the charger
And you don't look at it again to Monday morning or take any two days and people go well
No, I need to check my phone. I can what are you saying?
That's ludicrous, but you know what I guarantee you you will feel better
Right now you can choose to intervene you can choose to create healthy
technology habits within your family
Right now you can choose to moderate screen time exposure for your child
Help them understand and create adventures beyond the screen
Get them outside get them running around
Get them playing different activities or games inside the home
So that their brains and their bodies can develop to their full potential
They're accused of being entitled. I don't think they have a sense of entitlement. I think they're wonderful smart hard-working kids
I think what they have is a systemic impatience and the problem is is they think that that?
Satisfaction in life fulfillment or even love and friendship happen just as immediately and they don't it takes time
and it takes unbelievable hard work and
The problem is they're not learning the skills to make friends
They're not learning the skills to fall in love they're not learning the skills to talk to people they're not learning the skills to find
fulfillment because it's slow and it's boring and it's human and
We're starting to see the results we're starting to see suicides are on the rise
Nobody kills themselves because they're hungry they killed themselves because they're lonely
Two years ago around the same time of the year I decided to give up my smartphone and
Replace it with a very basic
now internet phone at the time I
was working in a senior position in digital marketing industry, which means that I was connected pretty much 24/7 I
slept with my phone and
I kept checking it all the time and even felt it vibrating in my pockets when I didn't have any pockets
Given up my smartphone
was one of the best decisions that I have ever made I
Don't daydream anymore. I don't daydream because in every spare second. I'm on my phone. I don't look out at the window anymore
I don't sit on the trees
But history is full of high achievers Jai dreamers like Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton and we so
Love to imagine how Newton said out of the tree or Einstein looked out of the window?
And this is the moment where they had their best ideas and indeed we can see
that it is has to do a lot with creativity and
Daydreaming is not just about creativity. It's also about our memory
If you think I'm against technology or against the smartphone
You didn't get me right
The smartphone is an amazing device. It's a magical device. I'm in love with it. Not just as the device
Also as a technologist and there are also amazing applications, who are really positive
They can help me grow habits like a diet
meditation running and so on
and it's doing so much good to science I
Love technology, I think there's nothing wrong with technology
It's about the balance alcohol is great drinking too much alcohol is not good for you
Gambling is fun gambling too much is not good for you. Cell phones are wonderful out of balance. They're absolutely
Addictive and destructive to the relationships of human being even though. I've never had a social media account
I'm okay 11, okay, but I'd go even farther. I'd go even farther and say not only
am I okay without social media, but I think I'm actually better off I
Think I'm happier. I think I find more sustainability and my life, and I think I've been more successful because I don't use social media
You