Why We’re Missing Out on Real Life (plus a Primal Health Challenge)
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve identified two deficits in our modern lives – the lack of sprinting and the lack of walking – and proposed a series of corresponding challenges to address (and hopefully fill) those deficits. Judging from the responses, I think these articles were successful. Today, I’m trying my hand at highlighting another problem, this time one that has nothing to do with physical fitness. In fact, it deals with perhaps the most physically inactive activity you’ll ever do: staring at a smartphone as the world gets on around you. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-technology (duh), or even anti-smartphone (got one myself). I have the accumulated knowledge of the world in my pocket, and that’s pretty darn useful. I can find out where to get the best Greek food within five miles. I can bank, I can order flights to far off lands, I can check traffic, I can check shopping lists, read email, text, tweet, friend, defriend, like, oh, and make phone calls – all from the comfort of my 3.5 inch touch screen. That’s incredible. It also makes it really, really easy to get too comfortable and avoid actually experiencing the real, physical world.
I mean, when you stop and step outside of yourself for a second, and you think about the level of technology we can access, it starts feeling like we’re in the future. Of course, the future will never actually feel like “The Future” because we’ll have caught up to it and gotten used to it, but if a Connecticut Yankee appeared in our midst from the 19th (or even late 20th) century, he’d be blown away. It’s awesome and empowering and all those great things, but is there a dark side to it, too?
Our relationship with technology is not quite as dire as a Philip K. Dick novel, with programmable moods and emotions replacing real ones and electric pets replacing organic ones. It’s also not quite like the Jetsons, where flying cars, robot maids, moving sidewalks, auto-cooking kitchens, and other advanced tech enhanced human engagement with the world and its inhabitants. Ours lies somewhere in between. We’re getting along, it’s not a dystopia, but I think there are some very real problems that need to be acknowledged. Namely, smartphones, social media, and the Internet in general has changed the way we experience the world. For many, it has replaced engagement with the real physical world almost entirely. And that’s bad. We’re really missing out.
Okay, how about some stats? Let’s see what we’re dealing with.
In Britain, 81% of smartphone users have it on all day, every day. Almost half of smartphone users, upon being woken up by a phone call or text or misplaced alarm at night, end up using the phone instead of shutting it off and going back to sleep. Over half of adults and two-thirds of teens regularly use their phones while socializing with others in person (there’s nothing like a tableful of people staring at their phones in unison, is there?). About a quarter of adults use their phone during dinner. A third of teens can say the same. 47% of teens use their phones on the toilet, while just over a fifth of adults do the same (don’t they know the bathroom is for thumbing through the wife’s Cosmo?).
In the US, 59% of teens admit that they go online too much, 58% say they use smartphones way too much, and 48% use Facebook (and other social media sites). Of course, they admit it, but they don’t do anything about it. But hey, at least they’re watching less TV!
Internet Addiction Disorder is now a real thing, gaining acceptance as a legitimate clinical disorder and characterized by the classic trappings of a substance addiction. A series of studies out of China have found large structural differences between the brains of Internet addicts and controls, including impairments in white matter fibers involved in emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control (PDF). I’m not saying we’re all full-blown Internet addicts, but there’s a spectrum, and I think a lot of people are hurtling along it.
Near as I can tell, this is a real problem. A recent study even found that people who stopped checking their email for a week were more productive and experienced less stress (as indicated by the heart rate monitors attached to them for the duration of the experiment) than the folks who maintained their email habits. Those who checked emails switched windows an average of 37 times per hour, while the email abstainers switched windows just 18 times per hour. More than objective effects on productivity and stress, though, I just find it really sad to see people miss out on life because they “had” to check their phone. It’s sad seeing strollers full of wide-eyed babies who are absolutely amazed at everything they’re seeing – that bushy squirrel tail flashing across the powerline overhead, the cat sunning itself on the sidewalk, a garbage can left out from garbage day, a bush, a cloud, a man on a recumbent bike, a leaf fluttering down from treetops - pushed by moms and dads with their eyes glued to their 3.5 inch screens, totally oblivious to the sensory explosions going on in their offspring but completely up-to-date on whether or not someone “liked” their most recent status update. “Ooh, red notification!” At least take a photo of the kid or something, sheesh.
Okay, time to fess up.
In the past week, what’s the longest you’ve gone without checking your smartphone, surfing the web, or checking Facebook, Twitter, or your email? Just give a ballpark figure. You don’t need to be exact. Sleep doesn’t count (nice try). Waking hours only.
In other words…
Loading ...How’d you do? I didn’t do that great, actually – I’m in the four to six range.
So here’s your challenge for the week: don’t use your phone or check your email after 7 PM for the next seven days. Extenuating circumstances? Sure, fine. Don’t lose your job over this or anything like that, but do your best to avoid those frivolous mindless thoughtless check-ins “just because.”
This may sound easy. 7 PM? Psh. Assuming you go to bed around 10, 10:30, 11 PM, that’s just a few hours of downtime. You can do that. Right? I was originally going to make it a bit more hardcore, but I think this is easy enough that everyone can hit it if they try, and dramatic enough that you’ll see and feel a real difference.
We’ll see. If it was so easy, if real life was so preferable to a smartphone, you’d already be doing it on your own. Don’t disappoint me!
One more thing: don’t just turn off the phone and close the laptop and turn on the TV. No, do something. Go out dancing. Light some candles and have a game night. Go for a walk. Go for a night hike. Take a short vacation (and leave the phone altogether). Engage with the physical world and its inhabitants, face to face. And let this engagement with the world carry over to the rest of your time, your “connected” time. Smartphone usage and being present are not mutually exclusive, believe it or not.
Please, whatever you do, keep that phone off, in your pocket, or back at home when you go on a walk with your kid. Don’t shuffle along, oblivious to the world around you, eyes and attention trained on that screen.
Okay, I’ve said my piece. Now it’s your turn. Get out there and stop missing out on real life!
Oh, and tell me how that sprint challenge from last week went. Did you get it done? Leave a comment!
Grab a Copy of The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation and Start Getting Primal Today!
Posted By: Mark Sisson
Since I live in one of the few places in the United States that smartphones don’t really work (yet), I don’t really have that problem (though I still check my email to much.)
However, every time I leave I am amazed at all the people staring at their tiny screens. Even just waiting for coffee in the morning or at a table in a restaurant. It still seems crazy to me.
I get so much crap for my flip phone but am totally committed to it. That being said, I am more addicted to it than I would like to be – constantly checking texts and the likes. The only reason I made it into the 4-6 range is because my work (Waitressing) forbids us from carrying them around with us. I will accept your challenge, Mark, although will leave my phone on to accept calls (because trying to coordinate outings on weekend nights without calling is…impossible). Thanks for the challenges!
Definitely guilty of this. The constant access to e-mail (and the workplace expectation of an immediate response to e-mail) has got to be a chronic stressor. I don’t think I’ve gone more than 3 waking hours in between e-mail checks this calendar year. Even my morning 2-mile walk to work is accompanied by music in the headphones, random web-surfing, and at least one click of the Gmail reload button. A dog might help.
“The fear” got me when I saw today’s post title and the picture of a smartphone, but I think I can do this. I’ve been making more of an effort to do so anyway. I keep reminding myself that (fill in the blank) is more important than what’s on my phone and that the internet will still be there in an hour, or whenever the kids have gotten their needs attended to. Good challenge, I’ll give it a go. Oh, and the sprinting? I don’t run unless I’m chasing my kids. Which does happen. I re-instated an old knee injury practicing my grok squat a few weeks ago and it’s taking its own sweet time rerurning to a pain-free state.
I seem to be one of the few that has gone 8+ hours unplugged.
Since I live on the west coast and most of my friends and family are back east, it’s easy to have my cell phone off at night because of the time difference. Even though, now that I’ve been here for a while my new friends get frustrated when they can’t get me in the evenings…but, I have a home phone they can call me on if they really, really need me. I also don’t take my phone on my walks, even though sometimes I wonder if I should for emergency reasons, but I really don’t want to be bothered or tempted to check my phone while I’m out.
I’ve gotten in the habit that once my boyfriend gets home, I’m not on the internet. He’ll check his e-mail when he first gets home and just before bed, but the rest of the time is our time together. I also spend very limited time on-line on weekends. We also have a rule that when his 13 year old son stays with us, he’s not allowed to be plugged in to his iPod Touch. We want him to know that human/in-person interaction and communication are priority.
Even though I do make these efforts, I do find myself mindlessly on the internet, checking FB, playing mindless games, etc., meanwhile thinking to myself I should get off and go do something. Oh, but wait, I’m just going to check one more thing…..famous last words!
The other evening around 8 p.m. my phone battery died and rather than plug it in and continue using it, I left it off. It felt so strange!!! I am going to do the challenge too! My kids and I play a lot of games together on our smart phones so I will miss doing that though.
You could try doing a game night with real board games or cards. Seems like no one does this anymore, but it was a regular occurance in my house growing up and we still do it when all the siblings get together at my parents house for the holidays. It always brings back great memories and even creates new ones! My kids love the game closet at grandma and grandpa’s
Love those games. We play Scrabble and bought a bar table with a revolving game middle – Scrabble, chess and checkers.
I like to pull out the Monopoly when friends come over. First they roll their eyes, then they get into it big time. We also have an electronic bar-style dart board. Folks have forgotten about these fun social things.
At a friend’s house we played DDR – Dance-Dance-Revolution. See that? So much laughing…
I have an office that overlooks the Trinity River here in Fort Worth, Texas. I was looking out my window the other day and saw a couple on the stone bridge that crosses the river. It was a beautiful day. The were both sitting there texting!
And Internet Addiction Disorder? Sounds like a big pharma invention to sell more drugs to me.
I love this challenge, but I’m going to switch up the hours a little for myself. I’m a SAHM with three kids at home, and while I don’t have a smartphone, I keep FB running on the laptop ALL DAY. Awful. My challenge is to keep the laptop CLOSED between 8:30am and nap time. No more “quick checks”! Thanks for this push!
I completed 8 sets of 30 second hill sprints with 90 seconds rest in between.
I mainly use technology to my advantage so I’m not usually stressed by it. I keep all else simple.
For me, this is very timely. I have just, in the last few days, recruited my husband and daughter (5 years old) to adopt a more primal lifestyle, focusing mostly on changing eating habits. But, I am also working hard to re-introduce some limits with my daughter that we had when she was younger, and about which I have become a little lax, specifically about the amount of “screen time” she gets on a daily basis. I actually made her go an ENTIRE Sunday without even turning the t.v. on! (I know, mom of the year goes right out the window!) Oh, the peace was amazing that day. I have quit turning on music in my office, and love the quiet. I will happily accept your challenge to lessen our techno time for the evenings!
Neither my husband or I have smart phones but we have 5 online stores so the internet is super important to us. That said, we do take a “no computer” day once in a while but we can’t be off line for long as we need to reply to our customers and since most of our customers are in Europe and North America and we are in Japan….there isn’t really a “down time” for us. In fact it is 2:15 am here in Japan and I’m online!
As a techno-geek, the longest I ever go without checking an electronic device is 2 hours. Pretty sad! I did the sprint challenge last week, pacing off 50 meters at the park. I did 10X50m, all-out-max-effort sprints and came home way more tired than my usual 6.5mph 2.5 mile run. I was surprised that my shoulders and elbows were sore and my hammies were super-tight the next day. Great workout!
Last summer, I spent 10 days backpacking through the Philmont scout ranch with a bunch of teenage Boy Scouts. By and large, they talked about video games and tried to get to the next campsite as soon as possible, ignoring a goodly portion of the beautiful New Mexico mountains. I found it sad that even experienced scouts had problems realizing that the journey is the experience, not the end. I “slowed them down” more than once with my incessant photography
.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” -Arthur C. Clarke
Here’s something else to think about: the following of you by Big Brother and Big Marketing. The only way to guarantee you aren’t being cyber-followed via GPS by either entity is to remove the batteries from your phone…and guess what? You can’t do that with a smart phone!
When Steve-o sold you that phone, he may as well have sold you a tracking device ANYBODY can use to know your whereabouts at any given time. Yeah, you have the world in your pocket–that means NO PRIVACY for you!
You know how Britain’s covered in cameras and the cops know your every move? Well, we’ve got the same thing, only the cameras aren’t mounted on poles, readily visible by the public.
Do what I do: regain a little of your privacy and freedom by leaving the phone at home. Do you REALLY need to have access to the world 24-7 when you should be focused on doing something else?
That way, Big Brother knows where my PHONE is and not me personally. Since I have an older model phone, with no internet access or texting, marketers can’t get to me (yet).
Just because we CAN take them with us doesn’t always mean we SHOULD. In emergencies, what did we used to do before we had cell phones? What did we do before we had OnStar?
We were more careful then, that’s for sure, because we weren’t distracted by texting, tweeting, or whatever behind the wheel!
Actually I can remove my battery. Not every smartphone is made by Apple
I appreciate that this site is so much more than what we stick in our mouths. Thanks Mark!
I didn’t get a smartphone either, but I do love my iTouch. But lately I mostly use it to… read books on my Kindle app.
I guess that doesn’t count since I’m not on the Internet?
Went on cruise and did not take phone. No contact with anyone for 7 days. Heaven!
LOVE this!! I am extremely guilty of smartphoneitis. In fact, I voted in the 0-2 hour range (shudder). I am totally going to do this! Thanks for the reminder.
Great timing for me with this challenge. I just gave up facebook yesterday because I was getting too involved and annoyed. Then I thought, why keep myself in that situation? I gave up Facebook for Lent and made it almost the whole 47 days. I should’ve stayed away, but it was so easy to get sucked back in.
I am going to really try to put away the smart phone after 7 pm. I am glued to it and I am one of those people who is woken up by it in the middle of the night and I check that text or email instead of going back to sleep.
I’d love to see a follow up next week on how people did with it!
I went to Jazz Fest in NOLA two weekends ago. I accidentally left my laptop in hte airport (with the TSA) so I couldn’t check FB or email all weekend. No prob. When I came back thru the airport and got the laptop back, I found I was less entranced. I don’t have a smart phone; just a dumb phone from walmart, which I rarely use. I have been unsubbing from a lot of emails, so I have fewer to delete every day. Same with blogs.
When I am fortunate enough to misplace my phone or forget to charge it, I cherish the moments of almost seclusion. Obviously I’m not really secluded, as life still surrounds me, but I feel disconnected from the rest of the world. While this feeling may grow into anxiety after a longer time, it is truly enjoyable to simply focus on what is immediately surrounding me in those moments.
I am a technology challenged 54 year old. I don’t have a cell phone, and never have.If I borrow someone’s to make a call, I have to ask them how to work it. The reason I don’t get one is I KNOW I will become addicted to it.
Geeze, the internet and email are distraction enough for me!
I run trails, which allows me to experience the real world.
I get a kick out of seeing people in restaurants, at parties etc. and half of them are glued to their phones. We took pictures at a recent family reunion, and one of us(my nephew) is looking at his iPhone in EVERY picture!
I actually remember when Blackberries first came into my world. We were at a swanky 50th birthday party six or seven years ago and one of the husbands was in a booth by himself in a dark corner of a restaurant, eying his Blackberry.
People thought there must be a family emergency or a crisis at work!
Our relationship with technology is more like a William Gibson novel. (Ever read Neuromancer?)
I’m going to challenge my 13 year old to this one. I think she’s getting texts way too late at night.
I will say that having my smartphone at Disney World was a huge timesaver. I could check ride wait times or see when a ride was down. It saved us a lot of wasted time and money.
Excellent article! Internet Addiction is very real and a quiet killer that is beginning at a younger and younger age. Of course, even despite knowing this, I struggle breaking away from my Blackberry as well.
Liberty Springs is the first residential treatment center for youth in the US that focuses on recovery from Internet Addiction Disorder. It opens soon and will be taking residents in August. Take a peek: http://www.libertysprings.com
We’ll be incorporating a primal framework in many areas.
Any thoughts?
I appreciate all of the comments shared.
Hi Grokers– Actually I kill my phone every day about an hour before lunch and then go three days a week for a quick three mile walk and theotehr two days I sprint the hills. Usually 10 wind sprints with a short walk or jog in between. Then when I come back I don’t turn on the computer for personal use until after 2pm–
BTW– I am soon to be 62. I sprint 2-3 times a week and I also box and lift a bit. Compared to the others in my workplace I am the oldest and also the most fit and active. The MDA has helped me drop from 186 to 169 on my way to 160 by my birthday on July 12th. Thanks!!!! for the motivation, the success storiesm and the great information!
Ooooh, 7pm. I already shut off all technology at 9pm (10pm being the typical bedtime), so it’ll be interesting to see if I can pull of two hours earlier. Count me in, for sure.
Granted, I don’t have a smart phone and my Kindle has had battery issues for a couple weeks now, so it’s probably a little easier for me to pull this off than others. I have been wasting more time than usual in front of my laptop, though, so maybe this is a sign to get back on track.
Just a side note for you and your Kindle. I had battery issues with my kindle 2 this week and opened up a chat/called them to see what can be done, and they offered to replace it (with the current model). I couldn’t believe it since it was quite a bit out of warranty. Just an FYI if you can’t get it working
Mark, something that I think would be really helpful is a way to connect your followers. I personally do not know anyone that is primal. I would love to be able to put my zip code into a spot on your website and have a list generated that could connect me with other primal followers in my area. Maybe it could have some basic information about the person such as name, age, how long they’ve been primal, what they might struggle with, contact info, etc. Or maybe we even have an assigned email address, i.e., jane@marksdailyapple.com or something like that to communicate. Just by using that email address, we’d be spreading the word to hundreds of people daily by potentially peaking their interest b/c they want to know what “marksdailyapple” means. Being able to find others that are primal would not only help me, but I think it would make us all stronger in a sense, and once we have a “group” we could meet monthly for support and generate ideas on how to spread the word!
Check out meetup.com. I think there might be some groups on there.