I recently ran across a short clip from Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram. In a conversation with Lex Fridman, he explained why he doesn't use a smartphone. Something extremely rare in today's day and age. He says he never had one growing up and now, as an adult, it's mostly a source of distraction.
I couldn't agree more.
Today, we're presented with multiple digital platforms in the palm of our hand. You can send and receive text, audio, images, video and if you're not careful, you can easily be sucked into thinking you need to be permanently connected and you need to answer instant messages... instantly.
Neighbors, clients and businesses will text you on Sunday at 11:00pm with a message that starts with
Sorry to bother you at this hour, but...
People in meetings are "listening" but sending, receiving and checking for text messages at the same time.
It almost seems like a drug addict poking his water bottle to get his fix.
For what?
Are people really doing multiple important things at once?
Are people really achieving tasks that will ultimately lead them to reaching their most ambitious life goals?
I'm going to take a wild guess and say they some people most likely binge-watching senseless skits on social platforms or engaging in half-baked, poorly spelled conversations with someone else.
To each their own. I'm not going to say they're right or wrong. People are free to choose what they want and enjoy the consequences of their actions.
Me? I choose to acknowledge the fact that time is limited and I choose to use my available time to activities that bring me closer to my life goals. Every day counts. Every minute is an opportunity to write one line of code, build a business process, make a sales call, do one push up.
Just like Pavel Durov, I don't think we need to be connected to the matrix all the time. I don't think we need other people to determine what's important and what's urgent. I'd much rather be the owner of my agenda and fill that agenda with as many activities that help me live a better life. That includes sleep and recreational activities.
I'm not saying goodbye to my smartphone just yet, but I'm definitely going to use it less.
Being "hyper connected" is just being hyper distracted.
I'm Decentralized Creative. I'm on a journey to using distributed systems of money, communication and value exchange. Take a look at my work at https://decentralizedcreative.com/
Here are a few of my other posts on focus, consistency and motivation.
Whatsapp notifications off forever
Work on yourself - Focus on creating the most amount of value
A workout session can teach us a lot about consistency and motivation
Step outside your comfort zone and get ahead of 99% of people