Decompression from Obsession
Well, I didn’t think this was going to happen, but I bought a smartphone. I tooled around with it for 1 ½ hours one night, getting it activated and ready to use. The other night I browsed through several apps and downloaded several of them including Angry Birds (hilarious and addictive by the way). I was never drawn that strongly to my phone in the past probably because I just saw it as a practical way to keep in touch with family and friends. My phone did not take up a big chunk of my life.
I can see why anyone would get hooked to their phones, video game systems, Facebook, texting, etc. It’s too easy. It starts out just a few minutes and then suddenly hours pass. You can’t break away from it. You blow off family members, appointments, basic responsibilities. You may forget about sleeping and eating. Your life revolves around this “obsession”. It becomes the most important thing to you.
As I have said in a previous blog, there is nothing inherently “bad” about the activities I just listed above. They do serve a purpose in life. But they are just a part of our lives, not the whole pie. Those activities become a problem when our lives are limited to those things at the cost of relationships, work, school, social life, hobbies, etc.
Having balance in life can be challenging. It is important to take time to decompress, get way from those things that we allow to eat up a lot of our time – not just electronic stuff but it could be work, hobbies, socializing with our friends, shopping and so forth. Maybe we need to figure out why just certain activities command so much of our time and energy (avoiding or escaping a problem, boredom). Set limits on certain activities and make time for other things that you have put on the back burner. You may find those other things are just as enjoyable as your “obsession”.
You must be logged in to post a comment.