Are you using technology or is it using you?

The other day I was in the park enjoying an amazingly beautiful day. I passed a small group and noticed that every single person was staring at a cell phone. I thought man, they’re missing it. So engrossed with their phones, they barely seemed to notice the beautiful day or each other. They’re not the only ones. Think about it. How much time do you spend in front of a screen? I won’t lie, I spend more than my fair share of time in front of one. I’m not saying tech is bad. I’m all for technological advances, but I’m also for balance. When screens monopolize our attention, there’s little time left to process all the information coming at us or ourselves for that matter.

Brain Hacking

Who benefits from our increasing screen addiction? I really started pondering this after watching a 60 Minutes episode on brain hacking, a term used for programmers, who purposely build addictive features into technology to capture attention and get people hooked on their phones or apps. Neuroscientists aren’t the only ones studying the brain. Many programmers know how to write code to encourage the brain to do something. One way to do this is to embed rewards (such as likes, cute emojis, followers, etc.) into tech to encourage people to form habits. Dr. Larry Rosen has conducted some interesting research on the impact of technology on anxiety levels. He discovered that when you put your phone down or receive a text message, it triggers your brain to signal your adrenal glands to produce a small burst of cortisol (stress hormone). To relieve this small spike of stress, you are compelled to pick up your phone or read that new text. Maybe that why it’s so hard for me to resist checking my phone throughout the day.  I’m not saying these programmers are evil. They just want to be good at what they do and that’s to get our attention at all costs. Sites like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are free because advertisers pay for our attention.

Your Attention is Valuable

Attention is valuable. When you have someone’s attention, you have the potential to influence their thoughts and feelings, which drives a person’s actions. Ultimately, what you give your attention to, you feed with your thoughts and energy. Are you feeding what you want to create in your life or what others want you to create or buy? While advertisers and programmers know the value of your attention, most of us are giving it away for free because we don’t realize the value of this inner resource. I’m about personal empowerment. So, I say learn how to cultivate inner resources like attention and focus so they can work for YOU not for someone else. We can become more intentional about what we feed with our attention and make time for practices like meditation that cultivate focus and self-awareness to counterbalance the tech influence. This way we can make sure we are using technology instead of being used by it. If you feel like you need a moment to disconnect, give your mind a break and tune in to you, sign up for the Tune in Challenge.