Your smart phone is subtly destroying your soul and you know it

I would access my smart phone hundreds of times a day. It was a deep addiction and a modern idol.

Typically, I leave my smart phone outside my bedroom when I sleep. But on the nights where I conveniently bring it in it always results in scrolling.

Instagram, Yahoo (no idea why I still go here), Reddit. Scroll, scroll, scroll! Ahhh... Was that... a dopamine hit? Feels good man.

No aim or goal in mind. Just infinitely scrolling through nonsense.

There is no joy in this.

Reminds me of a scene in Avengers Infinity War.

Thor decides to go to Nidavellir to make a new hammer to take out Thanos. Peter Quill asks, "Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?"

Thor's response:

No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapsed into madness.

Interesting. Thor is a god, Peter Quill is human (half).

Smart phones are powerful. They're stronger than super computers of past, are not constrained by location, and contain all the world's knowledge at our finger tips.

Smart phone technology and the apps that accompany them are so powerful they have the ability to determine the future of governments.

Let that sink in.

Elections are won and lost by the power of social networks and its mobile accessibility.

It almost seems inevitable that a device this powerful would control a large part of my life.

• The average person unlocks their phone 80 times a day. I was unlocking it 100+. Which meant...
• I was touching and thinking about my phone hundreds of times a day.

The moment I wake up, I would think about my phone. Not my wife, not my kids, my phone.

This really began to weigh on me.

I started replaying all the times my boys would try to share something with me they thought was important. The majority of time I'd realize I rarely drew my eyes off my phone. I'd just stare at some crap in one of my social apps instead of starring at my kids and being fully present with them.

The message I was sending my kids was simple:

What I'm starring at in my phone is more important than what you want to show me.

Sad. Remember, most of the time I'm starring at utter nonsense.

It was clear that my smart phone was bringing little joy and adding a frustration that resonated deep in my soul.

On February 11th I decided to switch to a flip phone. The next article will dive into life 30 days into the switch.

I ended up joining a writing based cohort called Ship 30 for 30. This is my first published piece from them. I'm supposed to publish every day for the next 30 days. Pray for me. 😅