As I sit here in a hipster coffee shop thinking of good ways to start this article, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to follow my own advice. Just one click away reveals endless possibilities: notifications I could check, emails I should respond to and, of course, videos of turtles and cats becoming lifelong friends.
Facebook. YouTube. Twitter. Texting. Instagram. The Interwebz! Why do these things demand so much of our immediate attention? Why do people seem to value texts over their own lives when driving? Are we doomed to becoming slaves to technology?
The evidence of how these things are affecting our brains is appalling. Perhaps we’ve noticed our attention spans decrease a bit throughout the years, but it’s more than that: According to studies, it may be affecting our nervous system in ways comparable to how drug addicts respond to substance abuse.
Children and teens with “Internet Addiction Disorder” are losing white brain matter in regions that control attention, emotions and decision-making. Another study showed 89 percent of test subjects experiencing “phantom vibration syndrome,” which is when you think you hear or feel your phone vibrating when it isn’t, at least once every two weeks. To top it off, multitasking between work and the Internet or other devices may be decreasing your ability to commit things to memory.
Depressing, right? So depressing that you want to distract yourself from what you just read by clicking out of this to check out the “Hot Guys with Cats” Tumblr, I think. But it isn’t all hopeless. It just takes a little more dedication on our part.
Genevieve Bell, anthropologist and Intel research extraordinaire, did a Ted Talk about how letting ourselves be bored may be one of the best things for our brains. I know it’s an easy inclination to pull out our phones when things cease to amuse us. It could be during a boring lecture, in doctor’s office waiting room or a in an interminably long line at Chipotle.
But why would I want to be bored? Being bored is… boring! The answer is simple: It allows our minds to rest from the constant overload of information we try to cram into it on a daily basis. It’s why “aha moments” often happen in the shower: Your thoughts are able to roam free without feeling the sudden urge to snap your friend back with a picture of your salad.
Here are some tips to help you cut that addiction back a bit:
- Keep a journal of your thoughts and your progress.
- Ask your friends to take a pledge to limit cell phone use and keep each other accountable.
- Find time each day for meditation and rest.
Am I asking you to become a monk living on Walden Lake? No. But realizing these benefits can make you more resilient in the long run and maybe even give you an advantage over your fellow millennials. Who knows? You could hold the key to the next great advancement in society but just haven’t given yourself enough time to think! Stay bored, collegiettes™!