Jump to content

Put Your Phone Down!!


Recommended Posts

Actually my phone is rather more my saviour. 

I am able to access the forums wherever there is a mobile data signal or WiFi, and get - or give - help 

I can listen to downloaded guided meditations to calm and relax me. 

I can use the "keep" app to make notes of key CBT tools to use if spooked by a trigger. 

 

Edited by taurean
Link to comment

Well I am off down to "The Smoke" for a couple of days of museums, seeing and staying with my sister and brother-in-law and then having a reunion lunch with old workmates. 

The phone will help me choose trains and buses, keep in touch with my nearest and dearest, relax with some music or a guided meditation, wake me up in the morning and, if I wish, keep in touch here. 

I agree we have to keep a lid on their use - but I am such a social gregarious person that I would rather be chatting than playing with the phone.

And I don't practice avoidance. 

It's a question of finding the right balance so the phone is benefit not handicap. 

Edited by taurean
Link to comment

I agree I think like anything for some people it can be a positive thing but others an addiction. Take alcohol for example, many people enjoy the occasional glass of wine with friends or with a meal etc. with no harmful effects, yet many are also terribly addicted to alcohol with devastating effects.

I think the same is true for phones, but that phone addiction is probably a lot more common.

Link to comment

Sorry about that folks.....I posted the link, got called away and never got round to adding any content :blushing:

Did anyone read the article?

I posted it for a few reasons.  Firstly, I thought it really summed up very nicely those horrible feelings of anxiety and fear of impending panic attack.  It covered why avoidance and distraction are not good techniques for this.  It also offered an opinion about how peoples use of phones create so many problems in so many ways.

In a general sense, as many have commented above......my two-penneth is, yes of course mobile phones are an absolute God send on so many levels but I also think they are very damaging to society on more levels than I could catalogue.  Many, many (even most) people are obsessed and addicted to their phones in a way that they no longer communicate on a person to person level.  People sit in pubs, in restaurants, in cafes not speaking to each other but endlessly scrolling down their wretched phones...you see them occasionally turn the screen round to show someone a photo, they smile and then turn back to the phone.  Young (mostly but not only) people walk down the street scrolling down their phones.  People stand in queues staring at the phone.  Mums stand in the park pushing a swing, all the while phone in the other hand instead of giving attention to the child.......I could go on and on.

Mine only goes with me if I'm going out somewhere and it's only looked at if it rings.......So I'd still advocate (so far as general use is concerned)  put your phones down :;

 

Link to comment

I'm not ashamed to admit I used to be totally addicted to my phone. I got rid of it and for many years didn't have a smartphone just a text and call type phone. Just recently I got an iPhone though and swore blind I would use it sensibly... Already though I can feel it slowly taking over (saying this while typing on the phone!)

My OH is quite good at resisting using hers and I know it is probably just a lack of self control on my part. I do think they're very addictive though. 

Link to comment

I agree with you to Caramoole, they are a godsend for so many many reasons, but I also think the same as you have mentioned above that they are very damaging to society in more ways than one :(

I think it summed things up very nicely regarding anxiety and I think it can be very helpful to know this because it’s the same regarding our OCD how when we keep avoiding doing things it increases the anxiety more and more the more we avoid it the more we fear it. 

Link to comment
8 minutes ago, lostinme said:

because it’s the same regarding our OCD how when we keep avoiding doing things it increases the anxiety more and more the more we avoid it the more we fear it. 

This is spot on. 

I forgot to add when away I use the e-book app so I don't have to take my kindle too. Reading a nice book on meditation when I use it at the moment :sleep:

But yes, when used wrongly as a distraction instead of a face-up to, and avoiding social interaction, then they are bad. 

Link to comment
11 hours ago, bruces said:

I'm ashamed to admit I'm also addicted to my phone but only because it's so much more interesting than real life.

Put your phone down and try and live a real life.  It's only when you do that real life becomes more interesting :)

Link to comment

Exactly. It's all too easy to withdraw into that other world when, if we simply reframe negatives into a more positive take, we can change our thinking then our behaviours - then see the real world in a whole new light - a world we want to be more a part of. 

A brilliant self-help book I read started off with the tale of a pretty awful day for a young woman - and we were invited to concur with that view. 

The therapist then took us through how that young woman could have handled, and viewed, each of the scenarios that occurred in a more positive light. 

The changed thinking and behaviours were simple and, when implemented, turned a pretty poor day into a fair to middling day. 

I now live in a small picturesque village on the edge of town - as different as chalk and cheese from the big city life I left behind. 

Do I miss that?  Not for one minute! Why?  Because I am very much part of our community, know lots of people, enjoy chatting to them, talking to them, helping them ( I am going to lend my copy of "Break Free From OCD" to one friend whose other half is really struggling with checking OCD). 

As it happens I am back to the big city tomorrow to see an exhibition in the Science Museum, go out for a meal with and stay the night at my sister's, then meet my former work colleagues for lunch. But I wouldn't want to live there again :yes:

Link to comment

Technology can be amazingly helpful and enrich your life.  Technology can be incredibly damaging and destroy your life.  This is true for the latest high tech technical marvel (ex. smartphones) all the way back to the original technology, fire.

Fire can heat your home, cook your food, mold metal, improve your life, etc.  Fire is amazing.

Fire can destroy your home, ruin your food, melt metal, take your life, etc. Fire is terrifying.

Be mindful of how you use technology and how it affects your life.

Link to comment

That's nicely put. 

If it's working for you that's good e.g.we found our new home by using RightMove on the phone. And I have found places where we can check things out online before going to the shop, mainly, to buy them.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...