| It is indeed unhealthy, and if you haven't experienced not being away from technology for some defined period of time, you won't realize it. Age: 33. I use the phone compulsively, like the person in the article. I reach for it instinctively when standing still in line, or waiting for anything, or while eating, etc. I have done this increasingly in the past three years. Two weeks ago I went to play trivia at a bar, hosted by a friend. I left my phone at home intentionally. For the first few minutes it was odd, just sitting there with a beer waiting for the game to start. And in between, I would watch other people, or doodle on my answer sheet, or just think about life. Today, I went and got breakfast and coffee and read a book for about an hour at the cafe. There was a place for people to put sticky notes about how they're feeling - it made me think about that, and make a submission. I read literature and history around migration and people. I listened to the espresso machine. I watched the homeless man sitting on the corner and thought about it. There is so _much_ for the mind to do, so many thoughts and experiences to process in the downtime without a device. For me, that often requires not just turning a phone on silent, but leaving it in the car or at home entirely. And it is truly freeing. If you aren't joking about your opinion, as someone who has lived in both columns, please do an experiment like the OP article. Leave the phone at home for an hour or two a day, for several days within a month. Maybe just a weekday evening after work, or for a walk/drive/brunch one weekend. The billions of thoughts and pictures and memes, if you are not joking, is useless when you wake up after a decade of accomplishing nothing of value to your own development or happiness or meatspace[1] interaction with the world. [1]https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/meats... |