Disconnect

It was not too long ago when, if you needed to deliver an important, urgent message in person, an interstate trip was a must. It was not as if people liked to travel then than now, there simply was no other way. Mobile phones that we have today were not in existence in Nigeria and even the landlines were limited to a few privileged homes. Until 2001, mobile telephony was a strange concept to us.

But with its arrival came the very many blessings and benefits we never before thought were possible. You could speak with someone at the other end of the country like the person was at the other end of the same room. Individuals started to embrace it as it made life easier. New businesses started to open as it presented totally new streams of income…a totally new identity had been created for us as a nation.

The benefits the technology offers are inexhaustible. Pretty much every aspect of our daily living now needs the technology to function properly.

The most basic of its function, which is to keep us connected anytime and anywhere is often underrated at least until there is need to make a quick call or make a quick reference on the internet and there is no network coverage. It is almost unimaginable now to go the whole day without using the mobile phone…especially for city dwellers. As we have all come to realize, it is an absolute necessity for most people. You are most likely reading this piece from your mobile device.

However, just like every other good thing in life, the tendency for addiction is really high. It is amazing how much time and attention they give to their phones, at the expense of important tasks and even safety. One of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time, Albert Einstein said "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction; for then, the world will have a generation of idiots."

How often do we see people on a busy road with their eyes glued to their phone screens? Or drivers paying more attention to the messages on their phone screens than the messages on their dashboards. Millions of people are killed and maimed each year because they were using their mobile devices unsafely.

A research by Pew Research Center revealed how people generally use their mobile devices throughout the day. 44% of users utilize their phones as alarm clocks, 62% grab their phones immediately after waking up, 79% aged between 18 and 24 look at their phones within 15 minutes of waking up and a whopping 83% sleep with their phones on their beds.

When asked how they feel when they misplace their phone, 73% of the sample population panicked immediately after discovering the phone is missing. 14% became desperate immediately, 7% actually became sick while 6% of them confessed to being relieved.

As gripping as it seems, the influence of the mobile device is not as difficult to put under control as it looks. It just takes the right step in the right direction for the "addiction" to be curbed. Being free is easy. The difficult part of it is the discipline needed to be free.

It may be difficult in the beginning, but once you make a start, the rest of what you need is to stay consistent. Nothing extravagant; just small efforts and at regular intervals will do the trick. Step by step is almost always a cinch.

Creating an unplugged zone is a tip that has been useful. Somewhere around your house or office. Somewhere you indulge in almost anything aside from your mobile device. You can choose to sleep, write, read, or just lay in silence to reflect. Anything at all. Just do not touch your phone.

Something else that could help is to remove all unnecessary apps from the device. Many of these apps have their notifications and these notifications tend to make us want to pick up the device to check what the notification was about. Once the device is in your hands, there is no telling how much time it will spend in your hands before you drop it again to focus on what you were doing.

Customizing your notifications could also help. Making notification for only important incoming messages audible. This helps fight the urge to pick up the phone every time it beeps. You know that when it beeps, it is likely that a message requires your attention.

Sometimes, it is good to schedule times to respond to messages and emails. Because to be frank, most messages can wait. And if you are so impulsed as to respond every and any time a message comes in, there will be little time and attention left for other tasks.

To learn a new habit, research has shown that if you commit to it for 21 straight days, there is a high tendency that the habit will start to stick. So as you learn to detoxify yourself of the extreme connection you have with your phone, keep the streak going for 21 days. It will do you good.

Break free from the curse of this blessing.