Discussions

I didn't quit facebook or anything...but I write out a long string of letters and change my password to whatever it is like sdfjllsjfjjdk...then I hide the paper and make an effort to just check in every Sunday. I don't find it takes me away from anything I just kind of had a day where I just looked up and said "what am I doing? this is so stupid...facebook had almost become a thoughtless habit...

I've given up technology. I have no social media, I have no no cable, Netflix , or anything of the sort. We only have a phone where you can contact us if we are home, if we are not home then leave a message. When you enter my house, there is a basket for phones. No joke. I don't need to sit watching someone be in another world....My wife spends her work days in the services industry, and a common "rant" of hers when she comes home is how no one is off their phones. Kids come in with tablets and sit there while parents are starring at their own screen. my wife says it best "we are the most connected disconnected, socially antisocial generation." Social skills? Where, show me the people with proper social skills now days? If you even look at these posts people post online, how many actually can form a proper sentence? I'm scared for the upcoming generation. When my grandparents had no internet for 1 week, the person asked them how they did it...how truly sad is that? Who could you see that could step away from our world of "social interaction" for 1 week? I bet you very few. Social network has taken over our society, and it truly is scary. I just feel sad for the kids of these parents who have their phones glued to their hands. Such a waste time.... yup, I sure do hate this technology era....

And just to add another thought. At the end of my days I will never sit and wish I "liked" one more post, but I would regret not spending quality time with those that I love.... would you rather have lots of people know your name? Or a few people know your heart? I definitely choose the latter

I very much agree with the above. Hang on, I have a lot to say on this topic.  
 
Do a search on eBrandon to see what people thought about Marketplace doing a study on cell phone addiction. I received a lot of defensive and nasty replies on that one and on another forum as well. It hit nerves. If you look at my recent post about reporting someone driving & talking on their phone...I had some similar responses there too.  
 
I know that I am on my phone more than I want to be. I do learn from it some days, but other days I check it (I have 3 places I check into) when I am bored & have no targeted use in mind. I have noticed that when I do that is when I have found myself checking it too much. It is a search for brain stimulation of some sort, I guess, and sometimes to procrastinate on something. Then I get frustrated when "nothing" is on it. I think it is kind of a stupid (sad) way to think, really. That is another time I do step away from it to reset. I don't need it to live or make me happy.  
 
I appreciate that there is some redeeming information...but being on it demands a high cost. I have hated Facebook and the attitude of its adherents for what 8 years now? A long time, anyway. My account will not be active in any way anymore & I don't even know my password. It is a HUGE waste of time. Addiction is the name and those who are called out on it are extremely offended.  
 
Unfortunately, I have Instagram and at times I am feeling that it too is just like Facebook...are the two actually connected? They are changing things more and more and it is getting to be too much of them giving suggestions, etc. It may not be long and I will ditch that too. My time is short. I never have enough. I believe time gets stolen from all who have screens.  
 
There are certain places I will NOT take my phone and I don't turn it on until later in the morning most days. Some days, I have not missed it at all. Some days, I enjoy having the resource at my fingertips, other times I wish it never existed. It can be good, but it is too easy to let it steal your day.  
 
The tv is a bad thing too and many even now can't pull away from shows/sports coverage. I had a friend whose father said that it would separate families, steal time and destroy relationships. Then came computers, internet...and rampant cell phone addiction. It made that trend worse.  
 
It is too easy to never talk face to face with someone. It is sad, because real, Basic (and especially deep & lasting) communication isn't just about typed words. I have found too, that relationships made and/or built on social platforms/online in general are usually empty, fickle and easy to ignore & throw away as trash. There is often no resolution nor a thought that someone real is on the other end.  
 
I have heard parents say to others to keep phones/internet out of the hands of children until they are older teens. It dumbs them down. This was from a college teacher, and I have seen it myself.  
 
So...do people need to "detox?" Um, yeah! Will most ever do so? No. Are they capable of doing so? I really believe it becomes less likely all the time. Most have no idea how to live a real life anymore and can't live without their "life support."

My connection with technology of this sort has been a long road. Back in the early 80's we became connected to the world in a different sort of way with a system called Grassroots, gave us the ability to check futures markets around North America at any time of the day with no human interaction, and it didn't take long to realize how addicting something could become.  
As the internet, and the ability to collect information or communicate with people grew better it seemed that more time was used up daily doing such things. Smart phones with all their technology took things to a complete different level, at times it is a scarey level.  
 
I'm not really sure if a person needs to detox, for myself it has always been a situation of learning a bit of discipline, and that idea sort of came forward right from the time we had the grassroots system. With all of the advances of technology it in a way has allowed us opportunities that maybe people never look at, and what I'm talking of is if you phone rings, or if your phone dings, it is not a problem to ignore it, because you know the message will still be there for a later time of viewing, and missed calls are there so you call worry about them later. What I have noticed is how uncomfortable some people do get when my phone rings or dings, and I just continue along with the conversation as if nothing happened.  
I don't have a Facebook account, or twitter, or instagram, but I do have my ebrandon account, but even being as opinionated as I am I have learned that if you are doing something like your work you just ignore the outside world and live in your own world.  
At times I wondered why I was always searching and filling my head with things I might never use, but now with grandchildren running about and always asking why, it might have bee a good investment of time.  
The new technology of connection to the world and people is just like everything else in life, a person has to learn to prioritize things and apply discipline to ones self.

Just an additional question to this chain:  
 
Not long ago, on Facebook of all things, I noticed a pair of images that was comparing people at a bus or train stop in modern times to those of the 1940s or 50s, before the advent of cell phones and other distractions.  
 
The modern image was, of course, of a group of people waiting to board, who were all looking down at their phones. Yet the historic image showed a similar-sized group of people with their noses all buried in a newspaper, avoiding eye contact with anyone on the platform.  
 
Are we, as human beings, just inclined to avoid human contact with people we don't know? And has this propensity merely made the situation worse with increased technology use?

I'm going to use a bad example, but years ago people would watch Archie Bunker, and Archie was always sitting in his chair reading the paper, and if it wasn''t the paper it would be watching sports on the television, these things did take away from actual family time, if we took it a step further back one could likely even pick on radio.  
I''m one who believes that actual verbal conversation is going backwards, at times I feel that is the fear that people don''t think that they have anything in common with people around them. People seem to fear initiating conversation because what if their is no interest with those who are around them. In a way the sites like Facebook and others are a way of expressing ideas without really taking things any further.  
Personally it comes down to individuals, starting a coversation today is not any harder than it ever was, but people do not seem inclined to do it and are happy with their own little world where they know those who are their contacts share similar ideas.  
The one great thing about open conversation with an other person, especially with others present, allows people to listen in, and if asked usually those people will add to the conversation. Open conversation also allows for body language, and emphasis on words or emotion. Saddly it is something I believe we are losing as a society. I guess I''ve been lucky, starting conversations with strangers has never been a bad experience, but believe that it is not something that many people are comfortable with, or maybe never have been.  
 
Gosh I''m a yappy guy.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2018-02-23 11:53:29

Good question.  
I think there are a lot of variables that go into answering it that might make it tough to answer in too black & white of terms. Personality for example (trending toward introvert vs extrovert) might effect how and when one uses a device (you might even have the same discussion about a printed newspaper). Another factor could be the size/nature of the city you’re in. The thought that pops into my mind is how much of a culture shock it is going from home to being in downtown Toronto for a couple days and noticing that folks in a more urban larger centre seem to be on average more prone towards going about their business in their own “bubble” (if thats the right term) without going out of their way to make make eye contact/be involved in chit chat as much as one might notice in a smaller centre like the one we live in (phone or no phone).  
 
Still it would be naive to think that when walking around the mall in Brandon you wont have to keep an eye open for a "walk and texter" walking down the aisle oblivious to folks around them..... or that there isnt a lot of time being spent on devices no matter where you live. Its a real open question just how much social interaction has been replaced by interaction that uses a device as an intermediary, and how much of that is new interaction that we simply didnt have the opportunity for. Some of that interaction in my opinion is very beneficial and connects us that much better (I’m biased but I’d cite many of the threads we’ve had on here.. the classic example being the property tax or flood discussions). In other cases some interaction might be getting replaced when it shouldn’t necessarily be (for example sending a breakup text message versus having that serious discussion person-to-person).  
 
Me, also yappy

I feel I am a rare bird - I've had a cell phone since the brick size phones but yet I rarely give out my cell number. I have a land line at home, a laptop, a tablet and a cell. I love tech and like to try out the newest things, but I have not upgraded my cell in years. The one I have serves its purpose - a way for the few people who have the number to contact me when I am not home.  
 
I do use my smartphone to check Facebook, ebrandon, the weather and email when I am away. It can be a great distraction when you are sitting in a waiting room for a doctor etc. And I have to admit I have been known to take a call when I'm in public with other people - but just to make sure its not an emergency.  
 
What I can't stand is when I visit people or they come to stay at my place and they spend their time on their smartphone. Why did you even bother to come see me if you are going to spend time texting your spouse or checking your FB? So to answer your question - I think that some people just can not detox or disconnect from their tech. I agree with a previous poster - we have become the most socially unsocial people. More like the loneliest alone. And I am not just pointing the finger, there are three pointing right back at me.

This same type of news came up a couple years back. I am sure You guys and gals will do a bang up job.  
 
One item of note that came up is the decision by job seekers about where they work came into play. It was part of a U S study. Apparently the ability to have social media available weighs heavily on University kids. I do know locally some kids at some entry level wage jobs or lower paid outside labours will not take or continue with that job if they can not have their phones on them.  
 
In fact now that I think of some I have had it would be now a safety thing in that field.  
 
It would be interesting to see how phones and or social media availability is now generally handled. It was locked up phones in my early days.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. We will be publishing the article in the next issue of Trending Magazine - that is the hope at any rate - coming out in mid-March.  
 
Matt

On this thread because I’ve been trying to reduce my social media presence ironically lol. I’ll admit, I’m addicted to my phone. I can hardly remember a time where I didn’t have google readily available for my questions. Just the other day in the local grocery store they asked if I wanted a phone book, and I laughed and said do people even use these anymore? Don’t they know about google? Lol. The lady said they were trying their best to give them away but nobody wanted them. One gentleman took stacks of them home to use in his fireplace as kindling.  
 
I’m on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat quite regularly. I’ve deleted apps from my phone before to “check myself” and it’s crazy how often I go to click on the apps when they aren’t there. Certain apps like StumbleUpon, Pinterest and certain games I’ve deleted from my phone. I get sucked into their content and find myself hours later wondering why I have no time in a day.  
 
When I think back to what I used to do to spend my free time when I was a kid I remember I used to read, do puzzles and colour. Well I have a puzzle app on my iPad, a kindle I use and an adult colouring book that I enjoy. I don’t think technology is necessarily an evil thing, I learn so so much from it. You must have to know when to use it and when you are withdrawing from society with it.  
 
I use technology so often that when I’m with my family or friends in the evening and I put my phone away, my mom has called my spouse to see if I’m okay if I’m not answering her texts within an hour or two. I make a conscious effort to put the phone down when I’m with others, but I don’t see it as this terrible bad thing to use when alone. I’m a mother and I don’t get a lot of free time to myself. So when I do get an hour at night after the kids are to sleep, why can’t I play on my phone, even if it’s mindless scrolling?  
 
My job has me on call 24/7 so I really can’t just leave my phone somewhere and not answer it. However I have put limits on it for work. I stopped responding to work emails after 5pm - they can wait until the next business day. My phone is actually on silent all the time. That way I can check it when I want to. I have voicemail and text, if I miss a call people can leave a message. But the ringing and dings from notifications was giving me anxiety if I didn’t immediately answer them, so I shut off the sound. I also shut off the Bluetooth on my smart watch because I couldn’t hear the notifications but my wrist would vibrate anyways lol. My email are also set so I have to click on the email app instead of them just coming through constantly. They are set that way on my work computer too - no notifications. It’s so easy to see something pop up and get distracted.  
At my work we have to bill every 15 minutes of our day to either a client or to our company and each employee has a target billable percentage they have to hit. You really notice how much time you waste being distracted by a phone call, text or email when you go to fill out your time sheet each day. You think you’ve had a productive day, but because your attention was diverted so many times, you actually haven’t accomplished much. I think working in this environment has made me a more productive employee as I’ve had to learn how to work on one task at a time and focus on completing something before moving on.  
 
And I’ve gone down a rabbit hole and gotten off track lol. So in conclusion:  
Do I think people should detox from technology every once in awhile? Yes.  
Do I think technology is here to stay and people need to learn how to manage it effectively? Yes.