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Tag Archives: unplugging

Tech Balance: Tastes Great, Less Filling

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by David Ryan Polgar in Uncategorized

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David Ryan Polgar, digital diet, Tech balance, unplugging

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Tech usage has been a heavily debated topic so far in 2014. How much tech is too much? Should I take a digital diet? Should I use technology to reduce my overall use? Should I use distraction-blocking software? 

In other words, how do I create a healthy digital lifestyle? 

Unfortunately, the topic is still so young that we tend to view the concept of tech balance as a black/white issue. Either you are a tech fundamentalist or you are a Luddite (one who rejects technology). Your tech usage, of course, is nuanced. You can love your iPhone and your tech-free moments. You can enjoy playing Candy Crush and with your kids. It’s your life. 

Right now, however, many commentators (such as a recent piece in The New Yorker) are hunting for irony and paradox. They are looking at the issue through the lens of a purity test, which is inherently flawed.  It is seen as ironic, for example, that a person uses social media to promote tech-free times and zones. 

It’s 2014. Get used to it. 

In the future we will likely treat our tech usage like we treat food and alcohol. Let’s think about our relationship with booze. Is alcohol good or bad? 

Neither. 

Our relationship with alcohol is complicated, just like our relationship with technology. On one hand, alcohol provides a great deal of pleasure and is interwoven into most of our social situations. On the other hand, alcohol consumption and overconsumption has led to countless amounts of human suffering.  Therefore we try, with various degrees of success, different strategies to appreciate alcohol while also being cognizant of its associated problems. 

Personally, I enjoy drinking beer and wine. But I try to be mindful of my consumption. I use moderation. I make whatever rules I feel like. When I see advertisements that tell me to Drink Responsibly (see Consume Less Alcohol), I don’t pick apart the issue in an either/or framework.  

Just like tech usage. I can embrace the many benefits it provides while also trying to limit its downsides.  I find a balance that works for me, just like you carve out a lifestyle that works for you.  The goal is not to remove yourself from technology, but to reach a personal equilibrium that satisfies YOU.

Forget Your Phone

06 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by David Ryan Polgar in Uncategorized

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Conversation, digital diet, Eye Contact, I Forgot My Phone, Mindfulness, Present Shock, Smartphones, Technology, Unplug, unplugging

Imagine two friends are sitting at a bar drinking a beer. Clanking their glasses together, they go about trading stories from their week. They laugh, argue politics, needle each other about their respective sports team, and occasionally have philosophical meanderings. It is a moment of joy and connection.

Now take those same two people and place the focus solely on the beer consumption. Instead of laughing, their attention has shifted primarily to drinking. Each frosty pint delivered by the bartender offers endless possibilities that slowly dissipate with each gulp. Despite their physical proximity of nearly touching, their engulfment in alcohol borders on loneliness. The scene is sad and desperate.

Alcohol, as most of us are aware, can often be a springboard to joy OR a pathway to misery. It is all about how you are using it (or, if it is using you). Smartphones deserve the same nuanced view. They can offer a tremendous source of personal connectivity that paradoxically leads to disconnection and alienation if, like the example above, they are abused.

There is a wonderful video that is making the rounds on the Internet called “I Forgot My Phone” that illustrates this point quite succinctly. The main character, without her phone, walks through a world with people obsessed with texting their whereabouts, recording special moments instead of feeling them, taking pictures of champagne flutes instead of enjoying it, and giving virtual friends status updates while ignoring actual friends. Lying in bed with her boyfriend, he seeks outside connection while being oblivious to the missed connection in his arms.

As the video makes clear, something is fundamentally changing about how we not only live life but how we view life. Are we living our life or are we observing our life? Somewhere along the line many of us have been experiencing what media theorist Douglas Rushkoff calls “present shock.” Present shock is our inability to bridge the gap between our online and offline identities. It’s a dissonance between being elsewhere and being in the present moment.

Our smartphones, if abused, can take us out of the present moment. For example, a concertgoer who takes out her smartphone to snap a few photos of the band is using the phone to supplement her experience. If, however, she keeps the phone out for the entire show to take pictures, videos, send tweets, and check-in, she becomes a viewer to her own experience. She would need to see her pictures, watch her videos, and read her tweets to later experience her own missed experience. She moves from being an active participant to a casual observer—in her own life.

Our fascination with real-time updates may be getting in the way of our real-time living. Frankly, it seems more shocking in 2013 to see two people engrossed in conversation than two people engrossed in their smartphones. On one hand it can seem comical: two friends texting other friends to update them about the wonderful time they are having. Their longing for connection juxtaposed with their inability to actually connect beyond the superficial.

So next time you are sitting at the bar with your friend, keep the focus on the actual moment. If someone sends a text to ask you where you’re at, you can politely respond with a double entendre before putting your phone away—I’m here.

Overplugged: Are You Smarter than Your Smartphone?

01 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by David Ryan Polgar in Uncategorized

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digital diet, overplugged, smartphone, Technology, unplugging

A few years ago, Jeff Foxworthy hosted a show called Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? Mark Burnett, the producer of the show, may want to consider a new concept that taps into the Zeitgeist—Are You Smarter than Your Smartphone?

This column, Overplugged, is a discussion about our relationship to technology. It seeks to provide practical advice on methods to strike a healthy balance between our digital and analog lives. Overplugged embraces modern methods of communication (blogs, smartphones, social media, apps), but not without first considering its effects.

The issue of technology often gets framed in an either/or proposition: either you unquestioningly step into the brave new world or you are behind the times. In reality, there is a large gap between a tech fundamentalist and living off the grid. That large gap contains most of the public: people who may love their iPhone but also love to be creative, productive, and happy. If the phone is negatively impacting those areas, it may be time to reconsider the relationship. It’s not about getting rid of the phone, but more likely using it differently.

This is the first part of reclaiming real-time living (analog life): taking control of how you use your smartphone. How often do you look at your smartphone? If it is too often, you will need to start altering your habit of unconsciously peeking at the phone. Habits, as we know, die hard. You will need to untether that automatic twitch you’re getting to check if you have another message. You’re fighting against a neurochemical habit that has you conditioned to reflexively look at your smartphone, so it will take some time to alter.

A smartphone taps into our nervous system with its use of various beeps and buzzes. Each sound gives off a possible award. Perhaps you are receiving an important email from the boss or a love text from a paramour. You need to check it. The sound triggers a release of dopamine to your brain.  (You’re disappointed to see that it was a monthly email blast from a list you don’t remember signing up for.)

If constantly looking at your smartphone is getting in the way of your real-time living, it is time to consciously think about your behavior. By being more aware of your constant checking you are better able to gain control over your use of the phone. The next time you are hanging out with friends or family, make a conscious effort to fully connect in your conversation. This may mean putting away your phone for an hour or two. It’s difficult at first (for heavy users), but soon you will begin creating new neurological pathways.

It’s fine to be plugged in, but sometimes we realize that we have to plug back into life.

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