We all know about the studies being published about the negative effects of social media on our brains, bodies, and lives, and our dependence on our devices. The impacts are noticeable, even without combing through this flood of studies.
The Impacts of Scrolling and No Closure
Scrolling is literally endless. There is no end to the content. It is essentially infinite. There is no closure. We no longer have a destination. We are wandering aimlessly until we are exhausted.
We also receive numerous notifications, bouncing us between endless interactions with countless apps that chip away at our capacity to be present.
We experience memory scattering, our attention grows fickle, we lose track of our digital navigational location (what were we doing before we got that notification that took us elsewhere and then to that other page, and so on), and we are changing how we socialize entirely.
As someone who does Tech Justice work, I have conversations about our increasing reliance on our devices and technology, leading to the erosion of our privacy and digital security, particularly when capitalist colonial Empire drives that technology.
Simultaneously, there is no doubt that social media can connect people in different ways, and inform us of what is happening around the world and on the ground, too. Technology also creates connection, more accessibility, learning, and unique opportunities.
As a technologist, I am an avid advocate for tech that can forward justice, and also I campaign against tech that increases and facilitates oppression.
Our Devices Demand Dependence
It is difficult for many to give up phones and devices completely for an extended period of time because of work, livelihood, habit, navigation, research, communication, or connecting with people and networks. Additionally, our devices and the corporations that drive them manufactured their tech to pull us in, all the time, for everything we need and desire.
Many also consistently use devices for accessibility, translation, or health reasons. Big Tech has created a web of connectivity that has core tech that can be life-saving and helpful, but they have simultaneously weaponized it.
Because they have worked so hard to create dependency, we must work hard to disentangle ourselves, too.
Everything is created intentionally to make us to carry our devices with us everywhere we go. But that also makes us all the more trackable, hackable, and fragmented. There is additionally an exorbitant amount of our unique data that is stolen from us during each moment our devices accompany us, and with every single interaction we have with them.
Some people intentionally go days and weeks without a device to break away from all of this periodically. Even a shorter period of a few days has been found to vastly improve parts of the brain, body, and community that become eroded by the continued use of our devices.
Find Your Space
I would like to recommend a more accessible practice of extracting ourselves from our devices, gathered from the practice of meditation and mindfulness.
When possible, start by leaving your connected devices away from you, one short trip at a time. Practice leaving it in your pocket while taking the train. Try leaving it in one room while you are in the other for a few hours. Go to the corner store without it. Get a meal with a friend and leave it at home.
Gradually extend the time and frequency of leaving your device away from you. Remember that it this, too, is a practice. You may need to repeat the same length of time, the same frequency for a while. Reducing and eliminating dependency are practices.
Anticipate the Unexpected
What about traffic? Will the train come soon? Will I be able to find my friend? How will I translate what people are saying to me while traveling? Will I know where to go?
Yes, our devices and apps have made navigating the world quicker and more convenient even. We are assured, we are informed, and we can no longer get lost. But, and also, we can balance that out with practicing not knowing everything immediately.
Our capacity for serendipity, spontaneity, adventure, and the unknown, increase when we are open to the unexpected.
Plan in Advance to Be Present
One of the wonderful aspects that comes from this practice of letting go of our devices, is that we begin to learn to plan in advance. We chart out our route, we let our friends know where we will meet them, we create contingency plans, we look at schedules, we have contact numbers written down. We learn where a clock might be on the wall in a neighborhood café. We start thinking about possibilities in advance. We are exercising a part of our bodies that gets waylaid by immediate internet searches, incessant connectivity to live updates, and buried in endless scrolling.
This is also overall helpful practice for data privacy and digital security in the age of Empire. Learning the telephone numbers of your neighbors, knowing the needs of those around you including elders, disabled folks, and children, finding who speaks what languages to translate, where to meet if you cannot use email, text, or your devices, and memorizing maps and pathways. These all create even more pathways in our minds and bodies to be prepared when Empire takes down the internet, there is an EMP, or United States militarism attacks our block.
Grow Your Mind
This practice of letting go of our devices, even for a short period at a time, can help us create space for more of our own connections. Remember where the store is, what it feels like to wait and sit without browsing and scrolling, just observing your surroundings, or experiencing your present.
Even If it is Sometimes, it is Better Than Always
You can set your own parameters and journey. Each person will navigate their own path in letting go. The goal is not necessarily, for instance, to eliminate all use of technology, social media, or apps. It is rather for us to be intentional about our direction in using them. Just as the purpose of meditation is not to delete all thoughts, but instead to be aware of and note how thoughts occur in our selves.
This is a practice not only for our minds, bodies, and hearts, but also for that all-important and life-saving thing called community. Letting go of the amount of consumption and space our devices have come to occupy in our lives, even letting go partially, momentarily, periodically, can bring us closer to being with ourselves, which means we grow closer to being with each other.
The next time you find your hand reaching for your phone, perhaps hold your own hand instead. Or just sit there. Really. These are perfect moments to pause and practice intentionality. This is a meditation in letting go, after all. A mindfulness practice in letting go.
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