Hands up if you need a Smartphone Pledge!
Over the last few days, a few articles have come my way (including one I wrote myself) about smartphone addiction and the impact of our �always connected� society. My favourite so far has been this fromm Joe Kraus at Google Ventures:�http://joekraus.com/were-creating-a-culture-of-distraction
Hi, my name is Sonia and I�m addicted to my smartphone. Except it�s not my phone itself per se, it�s that feeling of knowing what is going on right now and what my internet friends are talking about. I�ve reverted to my teenage self and I don�t want to miss out, on anything, even for an hour.
The problem is that I am missing out. I�m missing out on the present. And yes, as new agey as it sounds, with the background of all of those talks that tell us to �truly be in the moment�, I�m missing out on what is going on in front of me. That�s kind of important when you have a family.
Don�t get me wrong � I still love to reach for my phone to look up the opening hours of a store or find a recipe or check if a TV program is on tonight. But I don�t need to constantly check it to see who�s posted what on Facebook and Twitter.
So I think someone needs to start up a website with a Smartphone Pledge. You could then sign this �contract� and commit to it for a certain period of time (start with one day if you are seriously addicted, or one week, one month, or even until further notice?).
I�ll start with a few Pledge condition ideas:
� I pledge to not check my Smartphone before I�ve had a shower and eaten breakfast.
� I pledge to not have my Smartphone within reach during mealtimes.
� I pledge to go to the bathroom without my Smartphone.
� I pledge to�not have my Smartphone when I am a passenger in a vehicle.
Is this all a bit much? Are we going to far here, or not far enough?
Today I discovered that my parents do not have email on their iPhone. It�s distracting. If somebody wants them urgently, they�ll call them or SMS. They don�t feel it�s necessary to check out what their friends are doing today or to share their day online. I don�t think that our teenagers or most Gen Xers even could cope with that.
We are the generations that have embraced technology. I know and share with a great bunch of people online that I would never have met in real life and I feel richer for it. But now I have another thing to add to my juggling act of balancing my life, to ensure I�m truly present for my kids and to show them have to squeeze the joy out of the present moment. If I don�t, they�ll grow up glued to their phones too. So you see, there is a lot at stake here.
Pass me that pledge to sign, please.
-SCuffy
P.S. If it�s the �meal out with friends� that sees all of the smartphones in hand, check out the Phone Stacking game�http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/phone-stacking-game-to-get-friends-off-mobiles-at-meal-time/story-fn6vihic-1226247534506
