A Few Things Worth Putting Down Your Phone For

For more meaning, purpose and fulfillment this weekend, engage in these things instead of the phone

Smartphones are getting more addictive as the years pass. It’s almost a cool thing to do anymore: snub your friends by checking a text, text friends in the same room, check out the five different social media accounts twenty times a day, etc. Technology has made it easier to connect with people around the world, but harder to connect with those we truly love.

I’ve been on both sides of the smart phone addiction. I’ve been the one who lives on the phone until I have to charge it for the second time that day. I’ve also been the one only using that phone for an hour a day (that was actually a wonderful 19 day experiment).

Beyond just simple connection, the phone makes it easier to learn, easier to write and easier to work on-line. All of these things are important. However, there are plenty of things worthy of living without the extra appendage. Things that the phone just makes it harder to enjoy.

Taking In Nature

Each season is beautiful in it’s own way. The spring has flowers to enjoy and storms that spread lightning across the sky. Summer has early and beautiful sunrises, unique sunsets and roadtrips. Fall has the changing leaves and an early sunset that contains beautiful twilight hours. The snow of winter makes for some great photos but also the ability to play and feel that inner child breaking free.

Nature is good for both emotional and mental wellness. We connect with it easily and are refreshed by it’s healing and soothing power.

To fully benefit from the connection, put down the phone. Allow yourself to just mindfully take in what’s around you. Photos are always a nice keepsake, but the camera does not have to constantly be in your hand. Just observe how the season makes you feel and fill up on the natural beauty.

Having At Least One Meaningful Conversation Per Day

The idea of coming home to people you care about and having a simple conversation about your day is sadly forlorn to most of us. A lot of times, when leaving work, it’s easier to connect to people over social media. It’s easier to see the photos, the status updates (that are often just fluff) and the retweets that are lighting up social media.

What would happen if we would commit to spending at least 15 minutes with someone we truly cared about than spending an hour or more on social media? My guess is that we’d learn a lot more about the person we are trying to connect with. We’d establish a deeper connection than just knowing where they bought the latest and trendiest. We’d begin to know how they think and what they really look for in life.

If that thought is true, that’s what I believe we should strive for. A deeper understanding of at least one person we say that we care about.

Practicing Gratitude

When in conversation, it’s easy to say that we’re grateful for the circumstances of our lives. However, do we ever stop to think and document exactly what makes us grateful?

Instead of checking our stats for the week, what would happen if we would take five minutes each morning writing down five things we’re grateful for?

What about writing down three specific things that went well that day and why we think they went well?

Going a step further, what would happen if we took a walk (with or without our four footed friends) and just contemplated the things on that list?

In my experience, this is what leads to changing our thoughts. It takes us from coveting to feeling fulfilled. It charges our energy levels and helps us to think more positively instead of being continually negative.

The phone has very little room in this area too. While it is true that we can create cute graphics for gratitude, write things down in a notebook app or meditate, there’s an increased sense of reality when we write it in our own voice with our own handwriting. It makes it more concrete for us.

Being present

Practicing mindfulness is what helps us live more fully. When there are no distractions, we can take in the moments that shape our lives more intentionally. There’s a saying that in looking back, we notice that the little things are the big things. It’s true. That meal we cook for our loved ones provides us with a more pleasant memory than anything done on a phone.

When we focus on the little things, we create memories that will last.

I’d rather be able to say that I enjoyed those placed around me and that any acts of love committed on my part were just that. Acts of love. There’s more room for creating those on the outside of our smartphone.

Pursuing Your Dreams

It’s relatively difficult to pursue difficult dreams when one is constantly distracted by what lights up on our screens. Pursuing dreams takes time + effort.

It can be argued that the phone and it’s many uses helps us to connect more dots, to reach a greater influencer status and to research the dreams that we have.

However, when was the last time that we set out to do five things to get us closer to the dream that we have and totally missed the opporunity to work on it because of distraction?

The phone can wait while we take an hour or two to do something that will bring us closer to our own dreams.

Conclusion

This post may seem like I’m ripping on cell phone use and the many things that technology allows us to do. I’m not.

I use my smartphone to keep up with others, post to social media, learn and establish quicker posts. I’ve found that it’s easier to connect with people farther away by using things like messenger and skype.

However, what I have tried to explain is that life happens outside of technology. The best and most savory things happen because of a billion of real life events.

So, why not try at least a few days of limited phone use and just see what happens?

Treat it as an experiment. If you end up hating existence without the phone no harm done. However, if you develop deeper relationships and find that life is better without another appendage, maybe there’s some meaning behind that.

What do you have to lose? Framed another way, by living in the reality of non-filtered screens, what do you have to gain? Think about it and try it for a few days.