"What is this life if, full of care/We have no time to stand and stare," wrote British poet William Henry Davies around 1911. A separate survey conducted by Microsoft concluded that humans have a shorter attention span than goldfish, down from twelve seconds in 2000 to eight now. Life in urban cities is chaotic. From early morning to late night, we are constantly on our mobile phones or other digital devices, trying to quench an insatiable hunger to get new information or reply to email and messages. Another survey by Adobe Campaign found that the average white-collar US-based worker spends six hours a day checking email. In the midst of all this rush, we risk losing the very essence of being human: love, friendship and company.How often do you frantically refresh your mailbox, Facebook or Twitter timeline? The desire to get instant validation from others drives us to post pictures, videos and messages across different social media platforms. We chide and sulk if someone doesn't reply to a text message or answer a call immediately. Sitting down to read a book you will sometimes end up watching Beyonce's latest music video.
According to 2016 Digital Yearbook, Nepal has 11.69 million active internet users, 5.8 million active social media users, 26.72 million mobile connections, and five million active mobile social users. The same report says one-third of world population now uses social media, with 10 percent annual growth. An average person has five different social media accounts. The average time spent on social media, according to Media Consumption Forecasts report from ZenithOptimedia, globally is eight hours—this is 56 hours a week or around 121 days a year! Think of all the other meaningful work you could be doing during the time!
Several studies also show that increased use of social media impedes our ability to establish real connections with people. The emotional engagement we want to have with our loved ones is missing, and we often end up feeling empty. And so we then turn to social media for comfort, friendship and conversation. Next time you meet your friends for a cup of coffee, just notice how often you and your friends take out the phone and start playing with it. The conversations and connections you could be having during the time are now almost a thing of the past.
The internet addiction is especially severe among younger generations. South Korea is the most wired country in the world. Teenagers in the country are so obsessed with the internet 10 percent of the country's teenagers are in fact state certified internet-addicts. A 19-year old died after playing video games for straight 12 hours in 2010. The country considers internet-addiction like drug addiction. There are now three- to five-week camps to help teenagers live without the internet, and some 5,000 children went through the program in 2015.
While it's simply not possible (or even necessary) to withdraw from the internet entirely, we can actually control our reaction to it. Have you ever experienced an internet-free weekend? Or tried limiting the times you check your email and other social platforms? Slowing down in use of social media can actually have an amazing effect on your brain. Over time, you are relaxed, less anxious and you achieve a greater focus on your work.
As poet Davies wondered in the early 20th century, when was the last time you went for a long, quiet walk with your family and friends? When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation about setbacks and difficulties in your life? And when was the last time you looked up in the sky and wondered about the universe and our existence or walked into the woods and got lost in your thoughts?
I have often wondered about these questions, and when I feel I'm spending too much time on the internet, I go out for a run, or meet a close friend for coffee and talk about happenings in life. It is perhaps time that we begin to think of all the people we have in our life who are eager to share stories with us, friends that are ready to give us a hug and comfort us. This will definitely feel more uplifting, and inspiring than constantly scrolling down your Twitter timeline.
The time we have on the planet is finite. At the end of our days, in our final hours, will we be musing on that funny internet meme? Will we be wishing we had sent more email? Made more comments on Facebook? Or had simply clicked "Like" more? I think not. But it is possible that at that time (and at all of life's moments where something emotional and true is called for) we will have forgotten how to speak to one another in meaningful ways. And that the ease we used to have in being in one another's company will be replaced by an awkwardness, where we don't know how to easily express emotions because for so many years now we have reduced our affections to one liners and little emoticons we type from a handheld keyboard.
Chances are most of us are reading this on our phones right now. Maybe it is time to get off of it. While virtual life has so much to give, it can't substitute real connections. Let us take some time to reconnect... to the view of our front lawn, to our neighbor next door, to the gaze of our loved ones, to the real live antics of our children, to the touch of our elders as we extend our hands to support them.
Let's make the small efforts to reclaim our rhythms and define our days by what happens in real life, not what we can pretend is real from the constant buzz of a rectangle of plastic, the flash of images on a screen.
@subhash580
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