04/25/23

AirPods Are Ruining The World

the lost art of mindfulness + notes on silence, boredom and play

Don’t get me wrong, I love my AirPods. I love their sleek, modern design that is small, lightweight, and fits so comfortably in my ears. I love their convenience, wirelessness, and connectivity within the Apple ecosystem. 

My problem isn’t actually with AirPods specifically, but rather the way modern technology has affected our ability to be present and mindful. People (including me) have become so addicted to their devices that we cannot even take a walk without tuning out the world around us – usually with music or podcasts. It's almost as if we are afraid to be alone with our thoughts.

In the past, listening to music was a luxury that people enjoyed once in a while, but now it has become a constant background noise in our lives. With the rise of streaming services, there are endless options for us to choose from, which can be overwhelming and make it even harder to disconnect.

All of this is taking away our ability to be mindful, which is essential for personal growth and development.

Mindfulness is about being aware of our thoughts, emotions, and surroundings, and it helps us to better understand ourselves and our place in the world. If we are constantly distracted and unable to be present, we are missing out on the opportunity to grow and learn.

Recent research has shown that 81% of Americans use YouTube. This isn’t unfamiliar to me. I have friends who have YouTube on in the background at all times so they don’t have to be alone with their own thoughts. 

Silence

With the constant barrage of external stimulation, we rarely have the opportunity to be in silence. I cannot stress enough the benefits of silence – it allows us to slow down, listen to our own thoughts and to introspect. Seeking constant distraction leads us to becoming disconnected from our inner world, causing feelings of confusion, anxiety, and depression. 

Mental illness rates are only ever increasing. Distraction is the name, technology is the game. They say that GenZ is having less sex and participating in a sober culture more than any other generation before us. Well, my hypothesis here is that GenZ is abusing technology (with their addiction to social media) the way the previous generations abused alcohol and sex as distractions. Neither choice is better than the other. Both make you feel like shit. 

Social media is a beast of its own. I’ve written about it before, but I want to reiterate how dangerous it is, especially as it relates to the curated, idealized version of reality that one presents on social media, creating unrealistic expectations, fostering feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. 

Silence is crucial in honing our intuition. How are we supposed to listen to our inner voice if all we are hearing is external stimuli? Intuition is the basis for self-trust, also making it a powerful tool for decision-making. 

Boredom

Boredom is an important aspect of silence. Boredom is a powerful tool – it allows the mind to wander, dream, connect the dots. I hate to see people afraid of being bored, doing anything to avoid it by constantly checking their phones or having YouTube playing in the background at all times. It’s a valuable opportunity to disconnect from the outside and reconnect with our inside. 

Play

I worry that without the time and space to just be, we are also losing our ability to play and be creative. Play is a crucial component of child development and can help us maintain our creativity as adults. But we are prioritizing productivity over play and creativity. I personally define play for myself as tinkering. I paint in silence, or tinker with ideas I’ve had to see if they’re viable. Purely for the process of it. 

Tinkering in general is known to be essential for innovation and problem-solving. Being driven by curiosity and coupling that with the time and space to experiment with new ideas and approaches is a recipe for greatness. 

All this to say, I am struggling with this too. My screen time is high, and my free time is low. I am on my journey to just let myself experience the world for what it is, and not for what has been curated for it to look like on my feed. 

My meta intention for this year is to be present and il dolce far niente.

Below are some resources that I am using/doing: 

Kasra’s How I Use Social Media Mindfully
Twitter Demetricator gets rid of all metrics on your feed (likes, retweets, notifs)
Having a set location for my phone in my apartment. It stays there.
Trying to have technology free mornings and evenings 
Only using social apps on web 
Only checking analytics once a day

More ideas: 

Kale Phone and Cocaine Phone
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the age of Indulgence

This piece is 25/50 from my 50 days of writing series. Subscribe to hear about new posts.