Nowadays, people’s lives are inseparable from mobile phones. Smart phones can provide people with a more convenient and intelligent office mode, but at the same time it brings an audio-visual feast. By connecting to the Internet, you can browse more content and realize more entertainment functions based on social platforms… Gradually, people seem to be addicted to the mobile phone world. How can we experience a life without mobile phones?
Eric Loucks
Epidemiology and Behavior at Brown University
And Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Medicine
We can ask curiously and without judgment: “At this moment, is a digital tool like a smartphone more helpful than anything else I can do? If so, that’s great. Keep using it. If the smart phone is not good for life, then don’t think about it, and then do more important things to provide more convenience for yourself and others.”
Humans are good at inventing and using tools. One can think about the role of fish hooks and fishing lines. These tools are revolutionary and help us obtain food and support our families. In contrast, digital technology is more advanced than fish hooks. It is like any tool developed in history. We keep those tools and technologies that can help us, and gradually give up some useless ones. How do we determine whether a particular digital tool is useful?
Well, based on our clear consciousness of our thoughts, emotions, and physical feelings, we can ask curiously and objectively: “Are digital tools like smartphones more helpful than anything else I can do at this time? If so , That’s great, continue to use it. If the smartphone is not good for life, then don’t think about it, and then do more important things to provide more convenience for yourself and others.”
Judson Brewer
Associate Professor, Department of Behavior and Social Sciences, Brown University
“The only way for our brain to stop doing something is if we give more rewards to the brain. One way is to help people clearly recognize how the previous behavior was not worthwhile. It may provide a quick relief, but It will eventually make things worse.”
If we don’t know how the brain works, how can we work with it? When my patients come to my office, the first thing I need to make sure is how much they know about their thinking? If they don’t have clues or clues about their behavioral awareness, I start to give them relevant counseling therapy to help them understand how people develop social media habits. This is very important, and it is actually not that complicated.
There are three elements to reward-based learning. First, there is a trigger, such as boredom; second, the triggered behavior, in this case, the use of social media tools such as smartphones; and finally, the reward, when you In most cases, you log in to a certain website and find that there is no interesting content in it, but sometimes you are surprised to find some new and compelling content as if you have won the jackpot. Your brain will release a large amount of dopamine, and Subconsciously tell yourself: “Do it again, do it again!” In addition, another trigger is anxiety-you use social media tools such as smartphones because you feel anxious, and this behavior will make you separate from that unpleasant feeling. God, your brain will learn this next time you feel anxious.
Social media is designed for this model. Its platform design will make people as addicted as possible. It is important to help people understand that humans are using the brain’s survival mechanism.
Once we understand this process, we can use the brain’s reward learning system to find the so-called BBO—Bigger Better Offer. The only way for our brain to stop doing something is whether we give it to the brain. More rewards, one way is to help people clearly realize how unworthy the previous behavior is, it may provide a quick relief, but it will eventually make things worse.
We try to help them pay attention to how they feel when they engage in more beneficial behaviors, for example: when they focus, let them compare the two feelings in their brains. When they can selectively check social media, or procrastinate in other ways, they just look back at the last time they did these things and compare the status of it last time. At this time, they turn off all vigilance and just concentrate on paying attention. At some point, their brain will realize that they feel better when they concentrate.
When they concentrate, they will see how their brains work. They will see how beneficial it is to take a break from being free from technological life. People use willpower to force themselves to take a break from using social media tools. The idea is absurd, it is not based on neuroscience. This is the proverbial concept of the world’s recognized weight loss center, because the theory wants people to think: “I am not strong enough, I need to stick to your weight loss plan for longer!” But our brains do not work like this. As day goes by, our willpower will gradually run out, and it will become more and more difficult to resist these desires. Reward-based learning is the most powerful part of your brain and can help you change your behavior.
Diana Winston
University of California, Los Angeles
Education Director, Mindfulness Cognitive Research Center
Nowadays it is impossible for people to leave the technological life. However, mindfulness can be used to reduce the excessive and unhealthy use of technological tools. I will pay attention to the time we fill with technological tools, because without stimulation, we will feel uncomfortable.
For example: When many of us are bored, we will wait for something. In all our “free” time, most of us will turn our attention to the mobile phone. We have lost the “boring time” before, or can no longer feel the anxiety of passing time. If we are willing to enjoy the fun of smartphones, this is actually a very creative technological life. With mindful attention, we will notice those uncomfortable moments, feel the urge to pick up the phone, read the news, browse social media information, etc., and then take a pause, take a deep breath, and focus on the impulse instead of How to do it.
We can learn to be safe even without a smartphone when we are bored and turn our attention to our real lives . How am I feeling now, what sights or sounds are there around me? Can my smartphone only answer calls? Or choose to breathe peacefully and integrate into life.
Elissa Epel
University of California, San Francisco
Vice President of the Weir Institute of Neuroscience
Just do it! Put the phone down several times at a time, and put the part of the extended mind that you have fully relied on, that is, your “phone” in another room or drawer. I am totally addicted to my mobile phone. I can often “feel” where it is. If I can’t, I will try my best to find it.
Compulsiveness is the problem-how often do we check that we can actively put down the phone because our attention is too distracted. Usually our energy is devoted to the space and time of interacting with people, so we have good reasons to become dependent on it, especially when we are responsible for others or our family, but in the end, smart phones still distract us and make The energy we put into the family is reduced.
In our research on the stress of daily life, we found that when people tell what they are doing, they are happy and their mood is much better. When we are nervous about what happened on a certain day, it is difficult to engage in what you are doing, and it is difficult to live in the present. So we are more likely to choose to use smartphones.
There is a natural competition between screen addiction time and health activities. Now we spend more time at home. I often take yoga classes with my mobile phone beside me. My experience will be left on the yoga mat. No classmates or teachers remind me. Over time, I can only remember that I took my mobile phone to a yoga class.
Multitasking is not something that we often encounter. We cannot do two things at the same time. It is more like fragments we experience. Making a reasonable plan can help shorten the working time of the day. Turn off the phone in the afternoon or evening as much as possible. Playing with mobile phones at the table, during exercise or before going to bed, these regular lifestyles will prevent us from indulging in mobile phones. Then there are more advanced exercises, such as: giving up the phone for a day or longer, I am still trying to achieve.
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