In our 21st century, everyone has to be ‘online’ to be considered part of the generation. The digital world is taking control of every sector. For a young person to feel satisfied living in these times, he or she has to have installed almost all social media apps and is actively using all of them. Name them; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and many more.
Most parents allow their children to have access to smartphones after they complete their secondary education although some can have them earlier than that. The first thing he or she does on his smartphone after saving most of his friends’ contacts especially the ones he recently completed school with, is installing the social media apps. And the boy’s/girl’s life takes a new turn. His/her life changes to become a life always connected to devices, a life in which a day doesn’t pass by without checking or chatting with friends, most of whom become virtual friends as days pass by.
I am not against the use and application of technologies in our everyday life. To be honest, they have made life a lot easier compared to how it was before the invention and introduction of technologies. Yes, communication has become easier and fast, although life has become close to meaningless rather it is a life without real value in it. People are now wasting a lot of time using their devices, following everything that is on trend on social media without considering the effects such habits bring to their lives. People don’t succumb to screens because they are lazy, but instead because billions of dollars have been invested to make this outcome inevitable. The tycoons of social media are up and about to make sure everyone is using these devices and applications with how well they have designed them to please and make the user enjoy them hence spending a great deal of their time.
People have become addicted to their technologies making them forget to live a deep life, a life of meaning. A deep life is not just economically lucrative, but also a life well lived. People are into their devices in that a person may forget to greet or catch up with a friend or relative seated close to him or her but not a friend online. Meaningful conversation is now a thing of the past for two people or a group of people in the same place. Everybody’s head is bent looking at their screens.
The new lifestyle of always being online is killing deep work and promoting shallow work instead. People no longer have adequate time to think deeply about their lives, what they want to make of it. About their relationships and ways to strengthen them, all that is long forgotten and everybody is busy surfing online. Anxiety disorders have risen in the past decade or so due to the many hours people especially youths become plunged to their devices.
With a number of advantages that technology has brought into our lives, we should never allow it to control us. We are its master and we choose how to use it so that it can better our lives and not destroy us and the relationships we value. Constantly take time away from your digital devices and cherish, appreciate and enjoy your offline, normal life.
The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their lives, will thrive.
Let us use technology as our servant to assist us where need be and not letting it become our master.
