Technology and Your Best Life
Are you a scroller: Someone who’s constantly connected and checking your social feeds, tapping out messages on Whatsapp and snapchatting selfies to your story? This probably applies to most of us, but Casey Anderson, our Florida Ambassador (and co-creator and coach at Crossfit Las Olas), has some thoughts about whether it might be time to switch off for a few and find a calm without the connection…
Technology and today's world is so intertwined that sometimes it's hard to remember what life was life before we carried around mini computers in our pockets. I used to just show up at my friends houses and say hey. I made plans and kept them because I couldn't cancel them, and damn, I sure didn't glue myself to instagram all day (guilty pleasure).
Have you ever thought about living your best life and how great it would be if you did? What does that look like? Where are you? How does it feel? Is your cell phone there? For me, it looks like sitting on a beach with my beau watching the sunset with a light sunburn, sore arms, a baseball hat and possibly a drink in my hand and no, my phone is not there! Now that's all good and well, but how the hell do we, (I), get there?
I firmly believe that if we want to focus our energy on an end goal we need to just put down the phone for a minute, - I mean, wait until after you read this but then, put that device down! If you really think about it, what does having a phone next to you at all times throughout the day do for you? What are the long term causes? Do we know? I don't, apparently these people don't either. If the American Cancer Society can't clearly determine what the effects of excessive usage does, why are we continuously subjecting our bodies to something that is so unknown? Let's put health aside, because why not, how does having your cell phone on you effect real life social interactions? I'll tell you: people can’t talk to each other! I mean, come on, communication is one of the main things that makes humans incredible!
Now, there are numerous studies about how our ability to carry on genuine uninterrupted conversation is deteriorating. Communication with one another is the thing that makes us different from other species - we can express ourselves. Except, now we can’t. We are not only carrying around a potentially cancerous device on a daily basis, but it’s ultimately now taking our ability to communicate face to face, away.
Let's say 3 hours a day x 7 days a week you have your phone on you and are avidly checking it. That's almost an entire day every week that's spent on looking at social media, texting, etc. Imagine if you took that ‘day’ and applied it towards the goal of living your best life or making a new friend? DAMMMMMMN, now that's some shit to ponder, #bonus time.
So, for me to get closer to the goal of not having a phone on me at all times and focus on working towards that beach scenario above, I am adamantly working towards daily phone detoxes. This has allowed me to no longer rely on it for ‘company’, entertainment, and knowing whatever else is happening in the social media world. This has enabled me to focus on real life relationships, my businesses, and things that are actually important to me. What a thought! I am now focusing on things I care about. So go ahead and give this a try: write a goal of daily phone detox, see how it feels and let me know! I will report back with what my own findings are and together we can take a little time offline to create that best life.