Apps Are Pulling You into the Matrix! The Why and How of Digital Dependency and What to do About It
Our digital life has almost become a replacement for our genuine life.
Apps are deliberately designed to absorb our attention. The Big Tech and Little Tech companies are motivated purely to tie us to their products, their apps, their websites, and their devices in order to compete and make money. The power of rewards and incentives designed capture our custom is their driving bottom line. Just like any addiction, we must feel the pain of not having the latest update, so we continuously upgrade and spend money to restore our comfort without feeling we are missing out on anything new.
There is always something new, but rarely something that is a breakthrough. It is like the old analogy of transport. You can get from the same point between A to B for free, however you pay for the comfort, security and social status of how you travel.
You can: walk, jog, skateboard, ride a bike, get a bus, hail a cab, hop on a scooter, ride a motorbike, drive your old car, drive a luxury car, hire a limo or drive the latest eco-friendly electric car. You will still get to the same destination.
Archetypes
Everything around us is an archetype of something. An archetype is the essential characteristics that makes an object what it is. A chair for example has to support our bodies as we sit. If we look at a chair form, it must look like it can support us as we sit. A social communication app must have a way to enter a message and a quickly get to our intended audience, while connecting like-minded people together and connecting their messages to us as well. It is like The Borg in Star Trek. The Borg are cyberborgs, formed of creatures and robotics all linked into one hive mind; one centre of control. We are all linked to the social media we connect with most.
Ask yourself, are you controlled in anyway by Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Apple, Microsoft, Google etc?
We are certainly fed the news and stories that our profiles and searches determine best match us in order to inevitably spend money somewhere in the digital world.
Apps are an archetype designed for us to keep them open, to keep us checking them for notifications, to keep reminding us to check them, to entice us with some little reward, such as someone paying us attention with a like. All are designed to keep us as loyal customers to spend on updates and upgrades. If the app is free, you can guarantee that their creator makes money from advertising or selling your profile information on to others.
There are rabbit holes everywhere in our digital life and we spend many hours diving into them just like Alice chasing the White Rabbit.
Vast amounts of money are spent on ways to capture and keep us bound to tech.
Managing Digital Madness
There are ways to continue resisting such a desirable pull as tech becomes even better at closing our choices down or just giving us the illusion of choice:
Ask, when your attention is being captivated by a game, tweet or newsfeed: Is this real? Is this contributing to me bettering my life?
Set Limits on your time. Use the very same tool that is drawing you in, to remind you when you are wasting too much time. Set your timer to go off by telling it to: “Hey _______ set a timer for ten minutes!”
Set specific timeframes when you will check your emails, social media feeds and messages. Maybe between 8.30 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 6.30 p.m. If you need the communication for your work, only allow your devices to notify you of any new work communication.
Set a “Do not be disturbed” time on your device, so that no notifications can disturb you from the point you step out of work until the point you begin your journey to work the next day.
Limit your devices to only what you need. If you have a phone or two, a tablet as well, a laptop and a desktop, pare them down.
Consciously get rid of the Apps, particularly those that give you pain in the form of stress, unhappiness or guilt from time-wasting. In olden-times, did the world end because you weren’t able to text your family that you would be home ten minutes late?
Choose place where you are unable to have your phone out, such as in the car, at the dinner table, while talking with friends or family, walking or exercising, playing with your children or while watching something on tv or at the movies, sports or theatre. Definitely do not have your phone out in nature unless you really must take that photo. Nature is there to be experienced first-hand, not through a screen or with you constantly googling what that bird, animal, plant, flower, tree or rock is. Just enjoy that sight first-hand.
Cut the chaos of too many apps that pretty much do the same thing. Just as you can have too much stuff in your life causing overwhelm and the confusion of what to choose, you can have too many apps staring you in the face when you look at your phone. Choose what you use and discard all the just-in-case apps. You can always download it again if you really need one of them.
Get Back in Touch with Reality
Organise your day with real stuff that makes a difference.
What are the three most important tasks you have got to get done today?
Make sure that they are worthwhile, that is they provide the most benefit for your effort.
Focus on one thing at a time. Forget the old concept of multi-tasking. Multi-tasking has proven itself to lead to low-quality results in many organisations. When you do something, do it properly with the time it affords.
Take breaks and chill. Not with a device in your hand. Take some exercise or time to think. Get out the old-fashioned paper and a pen and see what happens if you start writing or doodling.
Block any distractions and interruptions so you can properly relax.
Spend some time away from your devices exploring other creative ways to think and act for yourself without the influence of social media distractions.