One of the most dangerous misuses of technology is excessive scrolling on the feed.

Each content piece is different.

Causing your mind to go from thought to thought.

You're practically training your distraction muscle

Strengthening it & making it a powerhouse

Anxiety ensues

'Scrolling is that big of a problem?? Yea right!'

It is.

Especially when you don't see it as much of a threat.

We live in the greatest times in terms of technological advances.

Yet anxiety is on the rise.

Why?

'Uh...'

It's due to mismanagement of tech

If we are about to give someone a car, we MAKE sure they know how to drive it.

We train them at an isolated park to learn how to operate the vehicle.

And before they are able to freely drive on the highways, they need to pass an exam

The reason we do all this is so they don't crash the car.

And even if they do crash the car, we atleast know that they did SOME due diligence beforehand.

Give a newbie a car & the first thing they'd do is smash the accelerator

Similar concept with the smartphone.

Give something the tool.

They scroll & drive on the highways of the internet.

But they do this with a weak understanding of the mind

The mind is broken down into 2 parts:

▪︎Default mode network- mind wandering.

▪︎Task positive network- focus.

Pick a social media app.

'Uh...Instagram.'

Okay so your content piece of choice are pictures.

When you scroll thru Instagram, do all of the pictures follow the same theme?

'Not really. Most of my friends all have different lives.'

Exactly

So you are hopping to new images with your mind.

Spending more time in the default mode network

One second you see Susie and her new dog.

Next, you see Matt & Rachel's newest house.

Then you see John got a job promotion

Taking your mind on the highways of info

Don't get me wrong though.

Every human needs periods of being mindless.

You may consider yourself a workaholic.

And most workaholics don't know how to rest

If you were to ask me for my definition of what 'rest' means...

I'd say its : planned out moments of being mindless or mindful.

The choice is yours

After a productive day, the last thing you'd probably wanna do is be more productive during your rest session.

So you just mindlessly watch an entertaining show.

'Is that fine?'

Yea

'So what's the difference between mindlessly watching a show & mindlessly scrolling thru the feed?'

Nothing much.

As long as your INTENT is correct.

'Not sure I follow.'

Let me explain

☆Consciousness - Aware.

☆Consciousness - Aware of being aware.

If you are AWARE that you're scrolling for a mindless session of rest period, then that won't kill ya.

On the outside, it looks like a default mode network activity.

But the driving force is a task positive network activity

This is fine in moderation

But that's not the case for most people.

They are not aware of their scrolling habits.

Therefore there is no level of task positive brain activity taking force

All they are doing is conditioning a bad habit

Scrolling to rest is mindfully doing a mindless task.

Scrolling for the sake of scrolling is mindlessly doing a mindless task.

The distraction muscle powers up

'What is this distraction muscle you speak of?'

It's a muscle in possess not visible to the senses.

Due to absent blindness, we undermine what we cannot see.

But what we cannot see often plays a bigger role than what we can see.

You can't see Wifi.

You can't see your voice.

Can't see the microwaves penetrate your food exciting the molecules heating it up.

Can't see a lot of things.

Doesn't mean it doesn't exist

A strong distraction muscle won't let you focus even if you tried.

Inability to control your mind makes it hard to understand the mind.

Inability to understand the mind makes it hard to coexist with the mind.

Inability to coexist with the mind = Anxiety

Everything got a second order effect.

Systems thinking acknowledges there is no isolated act or entity.

We are a web in this thing we call life.

Small acts have big rewards or consequences

Be more mindful of acts you do mindlessly.

Enter social media with an intent.

Is it to learn, network, rest etc.

Doesn't have to be too detailed.

Then use the technology to benefit you

Remember, man created technology.

We own technology.

Not the other way around.

Tech does what we tell it to do

But if you can't even do that, then your tech will gladly tell ya what to do

Making you addicted in no time & destroying your mind from within

Stay woke G.

We are the Guinea pig era for social media.

We don't have decades of data for our digital scientists to dissect.

WE ARE THE DATA.

Don't be in year 2060 desperately wishing for a do over.

There is no do over.

Use your technology responsibly.

And bring awareness to the 2nd order effects of your life.

For more practical mindset insights, follow @ArmaniTalks