Did You Check My Latest Status Update? Why Not!?

By Kevin Ross, RN, BSN | March 11, 2014 |

There’s no doubt in my mind that I love technology. At times I feel like I can’t get enough. If I step away from technology for too long I find that I don’t actually know what to do for entertainment or how to relax.

Have you ever left your house without your smartphone and it feels as if you just walked outside without pants on? Okay, I’m reliving that nightmare as I type this.

I sure wish I new what you were up to. I haven’t gotten a status update in like uh, thirty minutes. I think I need to do a hard reset on my phone. It’s not blinking or making any noise and I know I set up all of the notifications just the way I like them and now they don’t seem to be coming through. There’s no way I don’t have an email, text, or Tweet I need to follow up on.

I’ve got way too much to do and not enough time to do it. I am seriously not going to be able to…Oh, what!? Did you see that squirrel on YouTube that chased that dog up a tree? That had to be some kind of camera trick.

In all sincerity there may be a chance that many of us are addicted to technology.

As per Wikipedia:

Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior despite adverse consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.

Addiction to technology is mentioned, and it goes in to further elaborate on the response as:

Physiological dependence occurs when the body has to adjust to the substance by incorporating the substance into its “normal” functioning. This state creates the conditions of tolerance and withdrawal. Tolerance is the process by which the body continually adapts to the substance and requires increasingly larger amounts to achieve the original effects.
Withdrawal refers to physical and psychological symptoms experienced when reducing or discontinuing a substance that the body has become dependent on. Symptoms of withdrawal generally include but are not limited to anxiety, irritability, intense cravings for the substance, nausea, hallucinations, headaches, cold sweats, and tremors.

So, does any of this sound familiar, and what steps have you taken to “unplug” every now and again? Remember, it’s a lifestyle that you’ve likely adopted over many years, so the change will likely have to occur in phases.

I’ve decided that instead of checking Facebook to see what you’re up to I’ll swing by your place and we can have a nice chat.