What is Dopamine?
It's the kick-butt chemical that charges the motivation/reward center of the brain and it could be the reason for the zombie apocalypse we find ourselves facing today.
Studies have now shown that excessive device use (smartphones, iPhones, iPads, etc) release this chemical. It's no wonder that people get sweaty palms when threatened with having their smart phones taken away from them! It works in the same way as going ‘cold turkey' in the world of narcotics.
When we're addicted to checking our texts, feeds, e-mails, ‘likes', etc we are feeding the continuous loop of dopamine which ends up having us in a carrot-donkey situation.
- The more information we glean the more we want.
- The more ‘likes' our posts get, the more selfies we take. This attention-seeking activity finds youths (and adults alike) trying to find some kind of self-esteem in the number of ‘likes’ and comments they can clock up on various social media platforms (such as instagram and facebook).Y?
Society's addiction to devices has become a disease.
Death by Selfie
Did you know that according to the Washington Post, 2015 saw at least 27 reported people die trying to take selfies in dangerous areas or situations? And, although the majority are of a younger age group 24 years and under, there were reports of older people in these statistics too. India is the country with the most reported ‘death by selfies' in the world.
The race for fame and glory is on and everyone wants in on the action — well, at least it seems that way when you're walking through a mall and most peoples noses seem to be glued to their screens. Take a look at this video clip:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_UKLelRGw&w=560&h=315]
Yeah, it's funny and no, it's not.
I took a trip to a mall last year (yip, I don't get out much living out in the sticks and about 200km's from the nearest shopping center) and was amazed that at least 70% of the people mulling about in the mall were on their devices — literally walking and surfing at the same time. I was amazed that no-one fell down the escalators!
This Sh*t is Real
We're in big trouble, folks. Our addiction to these devices is gob-smacking. I value the internet and the opportunity it brings but I'm very aware of the insidious downside.
Try answer these questions honestly:
- Are you neglecting hobbies you used to engage in (such as reading, drawing, writing or cooking) because you're spending oodles of time on your phone?
- Are you neglecting family or friends because you keep in touch over your apps, so you feel you don't need to physically go and visit them?
- Are you ignoring your immediate family because you're too busy online to go outside and play ball with your kids or cook and eat a meal together whilst sharing your tales of the day?
- Do you constantly check your phone for messages or spring into action to check it when it goes off?
- Even worse, do you constantly check your phone or allow unimportant interruptions while you are visiting or meeting someone who's taken the time out to be with you?
- Do you feel you don't have enough time in the day to do what you want to do but you have enough time to sit on your device checking your feeds every few minutes?
- Do you break out into a sweat if you're phone has been left behind somewhere, or the battery is dead and you've no instant way of recharging?
If you've answered yes to any of the above, it's time for a reality check. I'm no angel, I constantly rein myself in and do the check. I often find I've fallen prey and try to realign myself to the below suggestion list. do we reclaim our power and take back control?
- Consciously Limit Your Time — if you have to check your facebook feed or if, indeed, you run a business and need to post something — have a time limit. Anything from between 20 minutes (casual) to an hour (business). Any more than this is dangerous, in my point of view. You can get caught up in feeds and waste a lot of valuable time.
- Walk in Nature — this is a combo-deal as you get fresh air and exercise. Nature and exercise also makes us feel less stressed, anxious or depressed. Ditch the phone though, make it a device free venture.
- Garden — get in touch with the earth and grow things. Gardens give us hope for the future and make us happy. So what are you waiting for? Why not take on a fun project like growing your own vegetables? You don't need your phone in the garden, put it down for a couple of hours and go acquaint yourself with the fresh outdoors! Read related article: Gardening Your Way to Zen
- Read a Book — remember those hard-cased objects stuffed full of paper with black ink on every page? Get reading again, it's character-building. Turn your phone to silent mode when you read — far less distracting.
- Space to Relax — turn your device off and just zone out. Put your feet up and daydream or meditate. Get in touch with yourself and who you are — know thyself. Our devices stop us from being in the now and have us always looking for ‘stuff' to occupy our minds. Give yourself time to unwind without being on call. Read related article: Harvard Scientists Found Something Surprising About People Who Meditate
- Meet and Greet — make contact with real people (the bona fide, fleshy ones). Engage in real conversation with eye-to-eye contact and don't forget to turn your phone off!
- Get Cooking — make delicious home-cooked meals prepared with love. Invite people over and share in laughter, good food and company — nothing beats it!
- Device Free Sleeping — don't leave your phone next to your bed so it can ping all night long. Put it in the next room and have a device free sleep.
Doing these things might just save us from an insidious Zombie Apocalypse. What is your greatest pet peeve when it comes to our new age of technology?
Cherie Roe Dirksen is a self-empowerment author, multi-media artist and musician from South Africa.
To date, she has published 3 self-help and motivational books and brings out weekly inspirational blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.com. Get stuck into finding your passion, purpose and joy by downloading some of those books gratis when you click HERE.
Her ambition is to help you to connect with your innate gift of creativity and living the life you came here to experience by taking responsibility for your actions and becoming the co-creator of your reality. You can follow Cherie on Facebook (The Art of Empowerment — for article updates). She also has just recently launched her official art Facebook page (Cherie Roe Dirksen – for new art updates).
Cherie posts a new article on CLN every Thursday. To view her articles, click HERE.
This article (Zombie Apocalypse: Avoid ‘Team Walking Dead' with these Simple Tricks) was originally written for and published byConscious Life News and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Cherie Roe Dirksen and ConsciousLifeNews.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons statement.
