The Phone Spell

 Imagine this setting. You have just won back to back Olympic Gold medals. Only three people in history have achieved that feat in your event. You are being anointed as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in your field. The whole world is tweeting about your feat, congratulatory messages are flowing from all directions. You also have about two hours in the airport lounge waiting for your next flight. What would you do? Will you relish the accolades, respond to those wishes and calls, read those great articles being written about you? After all, you have spent months and years toiling for this very moment. Or will you just sit still and be with your thoughts? Most of us, by default, will fall in the first category. Unless you are Eliud Kipchoge. After he won the Men's marathon event in the 2021 Olympics at Sapporo (venue was changed from Tokyo because of extreme heat concerns), Kipchoge had to fly back to Tokyo for the medal ceremony. As he was waiting for his flight, a journalist who also traveled by the same flight had the chance to observe Kipchoge. He wrote (I am trying to find the link, will update when I am able to locate) that in that entire two hours of waiting, Kipchoge did not even touch the phone even once. Even as the other medalists traveling with him were answering congratulatory calls and reading news articles, Kipchoge was just sitting there still with his own thoughts. Note that he was not sleeping or even reading a book or listening to music. Just sitting still. In this current world, sitting with ones own thought, in such circumstances where you can get your dopamine levels shoot through the roof with all the congratulatory messages and posts, is probably as great an achievement as winning back to back Marathon medals. 

Every time we post something in Facebook, Instagram, Strava or even WhatsApp, we have this uncontrollable desire to check the feedback from others. It could be as small as a like or it could be an long, back-and-forth conversation. We have become slaves to the dopamine spikes from these engagements. Even otherwise, we just consume a lot from the Internet. Every time someone stops their two wheeler at a traffic signal, the phones are out. You need to go up in the office elevator to the 9th floor, you will have to check the phone for that 10s. Most kids and adults walk with their face glued to the phones. The phones and the apps have cast such a enchanting spell and hold us in such a tight leash on us that we feel almost helpless to get out of its grip. 

Two questions arise. Do we event want to get out this? If yes, how do we? 

While it appears intuitive (at least to me) that the answer is "yes" to the first question, I am not at all sure if this is the answer for most folks. May be they do not even want to acknowledge that they have fallen into a trap. Or may be this is no trap at all. No judgements here, everyone is entitled to their own views and perspectives.

Assuming that we want to extricate ourselves from this web, how do we? Self help authors have made their millions but clearly there are no easy answers. Telling/Advising certainly will not help, showing might. We somehow need to celebrate the Kipcohoges of the world for their mindfulness. Such role models are hard to come by, but we need to just amplify such examples.  Additionally, if we, on a personal basis, undertake to demonstrate to our inner circle, kids and friends, that life is as attractive, if not better, without this constant phone peeking, that may help. But will we? Or more importantly, can we?