Technology Addiction OR Times of Life:
The choice is yours
Technology has given us what we inherently crave for Socialization, Instant Communication, Knowledge, Entertainment and more. But it snatched our those tiny experiences that shaped our life. A few minutes of silence in lift, staircase, while driving, walking, before sleeping, after waking up to connect with Almighty or a few minutes of talk while eating, relaxing, shopping, playing, sightseeing to connect with family or a few minutes of thinking while cooking, lazying on couch, in bathroom, during breaks, at work desk to connect with ourselves and our lives. I call these breathers as the TIME FOR LIFE. These times of life are the oxygen for our relations, our mind, body, heart and souls.
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These times of life have been replaced by the gadgets for calling, texting, socializing, exploring and what not. According to Locket Mobile App, average users check their phone 110 times a day and addicted users sometimes check up to 900 times a day or once in 6 seconds. That’s is beyond addiction.
The world is getting engulfed with this addiction and its dangerous especially for the digital natives who can’t even move without the help of a gadget. Almighty ordained modesty for us and a balanced life. Extremism in any action is forbidden and we should be watchful of our own actions. Doing anything that doesn’t serve a purpose is like burning your hard earned money with your own hands.
In an experiments on WhatsApp addicts to shape their habits, he introduced a small task of reading Quran at least once in the day before checking any social messages. With a strong spiritual reason, they read Quran in the morning for a few minutes. This slowly became a progressive habit. In the beginning they could read only 1 para but gradually mastered half a chapter every day. And those days when hey didn’t read, they couldn’t touch Social Messages. To control the urge, they started reciting in silent times, talking with family/relatives and thinking in those times of life. Within 3 months their life changed for good and they felt more such energy, positivity, belief and intellect.
To reclaim our times of life for a life time we need to adopt the following golden rules:
1) Start your day with something productive for your body, mind, heart or soul like reading, praying, chatting with family, writing your thoughts, etc. Make sure you plan your day.
2) Divide your day for Self, Family, Work and Worship. Fix number of hours per day or week and be your own big brother to push yourself. You can also have a buddy who does the same and reminds each other.
3) Identify the times of life in your life and pursue them proactively as if you found a lost treasure. Don’t worry! You might look fake in the beginning but you and people around you will get used to it and it’ll become natural.
4) People around you might not respond as you are changing the mindset and going against the norm. It’s OK! Every great person becomes great because of the struggles they face. Go ahead! Be persistent! Remember, It’s all being recorded.
5) Fix time for your urge to check Social Messages including eMails. This world won’t stop if you don’t respond within few minutes. No official calls once you reach home. STOP and make the most of the times for life. For emergency, use SMS and communicate the same to your important contacts.
6) Finally, introspect your day before sleeping. Appreciate yourself by writing the words of praise in a notebook/Digi book for all the achievements and resolve to complete the pending ones. Don’t forget to forgive everyone before sleeping ahead of 11PM.
May Allah SWT forgive us for our mistakes, accept our efforts and bestow upon us all the abilities, skills and whatever needed to earn HIS pleasure.
Dr. Syed Misbahuddin
(Director)
