If you’re new to Self Love Bites, welcome home! If you’re old as gold, thank you for being here! This month’s topic is technological devices that rule our lives.
This ancient piece of technology is the Ericsson DBH 1001 telephone. It’s the one that rings “Trring trring. Trring trring” nd the receiver was I didn’t have one in my house until I hit puberty. It was a big deal to have one. One house having a telephone meant that neighbors could use it sometimes! We didn’t have this ancient model; we had one with numbers that you could press. But I never found myself glued to the chair by the phone.
A new type of exhaustion has come over people in this technology-driven age. It’s the exhaustion of always being available.
I watched a video clip in which children under the ages of five were screaming upon devices being taken away from them Some even threatened their parents! It was a devastating video to watch.
The boundaries of work have faded after the world has become technologically advanced. Some bosses (in local firms, not MNCs) reach out to their employees at odd hours demanding work to be done.
Just because the employee is reachable, how does that make him/her a robot or a machine that works on demand?
What people can’t put a finger on but crave the most now is the freedom to be unavailable!
I also feel like we’re becoming less civilized as a society. Once upon a time, people used to talk. Now they’re only staring at their phone. People are losing social skills!
Earlier today when I was having lunch, I had half a podcast remaining to listen to. I was tempter to bring it to the table, but then I remember that it needed to be fully charged. And so we let each other recharge while I was enjoying my okra, spelt roti, and yogurt lunch.
I reminded myself to not be available 24 x 7. Isn’t it funny that humans have become robot-like and now with the help of AI, they’re trying to make robots behave like human. I came across this quote floating on the internet. It cracked me up:
Before we work on artificial intelligence why don't we do something about natural stupidity?
Natural stupidity is costing us millions of dollars. What’s the definition of insanity? To do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Common sense is as rare as hen’s teeth. Hold fast to it when you come across common sense. He left the building when he saw he had no use.
Today, we are more connected that we have ever been. Yet loneliness and isolation are epidemic.
When United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy was on a cross-country listening tour in 2014, people began to tell him they felt isolated, invisible, and insignificant. Even when they couldn’t put their finger on the word “lonely,” time and time again, people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, from every corner of the country, would tell him, “I have to shoulder all of life’s burdens by myself,” or “if I disappear tomorrow, no one will even notice.”
It was a lightbulb moment for him: social disconnection was far more common than he had realized. Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health.
I wonder if this isolation and loneliness are what glue us to our mobile phones, to check every WhatsApp message, to attend to every notification, because it gives us the illusion that we’re connected. That deep down, we still mean something to someone.
The addiction to technology is the other side of the same coin. I’m heart broken at the state of affairs. Mental health has only worsened over the years. I hope and pray that people wake up and realize one day that real connection happens in person, face to face.
If you’re lonely, find a person you can call and talk to. Not text. Texting is not a human thing to do. Or better still, meet them in person.
Until the next one!
If you’re looking to work with a coach to bring more discipline, aka self-love into your life, please write to me at Optimysticoachk@gmail.com