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Stay Sparked #54 "Technology Mindfulness"
6 Plays1 year ago
This week we talk about the double-edged sword of technology. Do we use tech as a tool? Or has it become a crutch? We talk about positive ways we are using social media and negative ways in which we catch ourselves using it to escape.
We are aware of the irony of using technology to share the conversation with you. (SPOILER ALERT...this podcast is one of the GOOD uses we discuss.)
LINKS MENTIONED:
"The Social Dilemma" on Netflix
Mindfulness comedy clip by Des Bishop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU_wLC0NlgU
Betsy's Traveling With Ease affirmation:
Two options to listen :
YouTube
https://youtu.be/gG3s9rHUKsQ (https://youtu.be/gG3s9rHUKsQ
Insight Timer meditation app
https://insig.ht/Rzw67AqFSvb
HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit.
http://poweraffirmation.com/
Click here to get a FREE affirmation for Stay Sparked Listeners!
HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation YouTube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. His other podcast is "Hard on the 80's."
http://JohnStyn.com
JANUS REDMOON is a 10-time Burner, and has spent the last several years as an advocate for psychedelic medicine research and treatment. He is the founder and CEO of NuWorld Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company providing mushroom-based, all-natural products to improve and maintain health for both body and mind. (Use code "SPARKED" for 10% off)
http://www.nuworldnutritionals.com
MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online.
https://dubsutra.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Technology Mindfulness
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:04
Speaker
We are three longtime friends here to share inspiration with you, aim to light you up.
00:00:10
Speaker
I'm Beth T. I'm Halcyon.
00:00:13
Speaker
And I'm Giannis.
00:00:14
Speaker
On today's episode, we discuss technology mindfulness.
00:00:18
Speaker
How can we use the tools to benefit our lives and not get slipped up in bad habits?
00:00:24
Speaker
And how do we recognize when we're using social media and other platforms as a tool versus a crunch?
00:00:31
Speaker
Enjoy the episode.
Gratitude and Joy of Travel
00:00:32
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:34
Speaker
We like to start our episodes with a little bit of sparks of gratitude.
00:00:37
Speaker
So what are you feeling grateful for, Betsy?
00:00:40
Speaker
I am grateful for travel.
00:00:43
Speaker
So grateful for the opportunities to be able to just jump in a car or on a plane.
00:00:47
Speaker
This time in our human history is just so amazing that you can really tune into wherever you want to go in the world and just go.
00:00:57
Speaker
I'm actually in the process of planning a little adventure and it's a really fun process to be in to
00:01:03
Speaker
explore the world.
00:01:04
Speaker
And I'm just really, really grateful for the time in my life and the space and resources to be able to travel.
00:01:11
Speaker
So feeling really grateful for that.
00:01:13
Speaker
Love it.
00:01:14
Speaker
Love it.
00:01:14
Speaker
I want to jump in and add my gratitude because I'm grateful for a recent travel.
00:01:19
Speaker
I just got back from Idlewild, a little mountain town written about two and a half hours away.
00:01:26
Speaker
And so grateful for the opportunity to get out of the environment that I'm in that I love, but a change and specifically like the quiet environment.
00:01:33
Speaker
and being in the mountains with the trees and the crisp air.
00:01:36
Speaker
And it was just such a beautiful reset and a good reminder that the world is beautiful where I am and the world is beautiful in so many other places too.
00:01:45
Speaker
So traveling and experiencing those things, so grateful for it.
00:01:48
Speaker
How about you, Janice?
Travel Affirmations to Combat Anxiety
00:01:49
Speaker
What are you grateful for today?
00:01:51
Speaker
Well, we might as well make it a three for three travel gratitude.
00:01:56
Speaker
Trifecta.
00:01:57
Speaker
Trifecta.
00:01:58
Speaker
The trifecta of gratitude.
00:02:01
Speaker
I went to up to San Luis Obispo area last weekend to hang out with my baby mama and baby.
00:02:09
Speaker
And we had a lot of good times hanging in nature.
00:02:12
Speaker
We got to go to the ocean and being at the ocean, like on the beaches or, you know, the cliffs and such with very few to little to no people around and just kind of just us and the waves kind of crashing with our baby boy was really sweet.
00:02:27
Speaker
It was a really...
00:02:29
Speaker
Really fun experience having that, you know, he's a super new fresh baby, so it's all new for him.
00:02:36
Speaker
So like having all these firsts and having our first like nature excursion with the weed pup was a lot of fun.
00:02:46
Speaker
So yeah, grateful for travel, grateful for family time.
00:02:49
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:02:49
Speaker
That sounds amazing.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:51
Speaker
And you know, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna slip right in here and do a little plug because we have this unexpected triple gratitude for travel.
00:03:00
Speaker
One of the offerings that I put out in the world is audio affirmations.
00:03:04
Speaker
And I made one specifically for traveling.
00:03:07
Speaker
I don't know if you guys have ever listened to it.
00:03:09
Speaker
But it's, it's like five minutes.
00:03:10
Speaker
And it's got all these affirmations in there that really support focused mindset around feeling really good about traveling around like,
00:03:19
Speaker
being feeling like you're right on time and knowing that you you have everything that you need and so we'll put that in the show notes if you guys haven't gotten a chance to listen to the traveling power affirmation it's free on insight timer and it's it's really good i love it
00:03:34
Speaker
I love that.
00:03:35
Speaker
I find that as I grow older, my ease of which traveling and going into new places and places where I don't know what's going to happen and where I'm going to park and all the unknowns, the things that used to be more exciting, cause me a little bit more anxiety now.
00:03:50
Speaker
So I think maybe an affirmation to soothe those fears is a good idea.
00:03:54
Speaker
So thank you very much.
Technology: Tool or Crutch?
00:03:55
Speaker
On today's episode, we wanted to talk about technology and how is technology happening?
00:04:02
Speaker
working as a crutch and how is it working as a tool in our lives right now?
00:04:06
Speaker
I was inspired to start discussing this.
00:04:10
Speaker
I saw a clip from Seth Godin, a marketing guru guy, and he was saying, you know, so many people believe that they are promoting their businesses using Instagram and Facebook, but we're really helping Facebook and Instagram to promote their business.
00:04:25
Speaker
And they're training us to make content that encourages these behaviors of re continue to use their tool, continue to use their tool.
00:04:35
Speaker
And it just hit me so hard as I looked at my behavior and looked at what I've been creating as content.
00:04:42
Speaker
And I've really been shifting into trying to make short form videos because that is what is being seen on TikTok and Instagram Reels and Facebook.
00:04:52
Speaker
And I started to become aware that while I enjoy this kind of challenge of making content that is going to be seen, I love content.
00:05:02
Speaker
when the things I make are seen and appreciated.
00:05:05
Speaker
But it also, I'm really, it's not what I would be making if I was just on my own.
00:05:09
Speaker
It's not, I don't wake up with an inspiration to make something really short and then jab, jab, jab with like a, like I like to settle in to an idea and to let things flow.
00:05:19
Speaker
And I like to have people come with me as the ideas are flowing, which is one reason why I love what we're doing now with this podcast.
00:05:26
Speaker
But so I think there's a lot to unpack here about what's good, what's bad, and how do we avoid some of these pitfalls?
00:05:30
Speaker
But when we were talking beforehand, we were just saying that these technologies are shortening our attention spans.
00:05:39
Speaker
And Yanis, I wanted to say, what did you say when we started talking about the shortening of our attention spans?
00:05:44
Speaker
I think it's already happened.
00:05:48
Speaker
The genies already out of the bottle are...
00:05:50
Speaker
Attention span is not shortening.
00:05:53
Speaker
It has been shortened.
00:05:54
Speaker
It's like already happened.
00:05:56
Speaker
We don't last longer.
00:05:57
Speaker
There's a reason these reels only last for like 20 seconds.
00:06:00
Speaker
That is how long our attention lasts when reviewing any one of these things.
00:06:05
Speaker
So I know even from myself, being highly aware of what's going on with why these algorithms are set up the way they are and they got us all figured out, I still find myself
00:06:18
Speaker
20 seconds into a reel or even like a movie trailer that are always like two and a half, three minutes long.
00:06:24
Speaker
After about 20 seconds, I'm like, all right, keep it moving.
00:06:27
Speaker
Keep it moving.
00:06:27
Speaker
Even if I'm enjoying it, I kind of, I have to fight the urge to swipe or like go on to the next thing because that's just, and I see it happen to, you know, when I watch, I,
00:06:39
Speaker
do watch people when I'm out and about at a cafe or something.
00:06:42
Speaker
And it's just, it's constant.
00:06:44
Speaker
It is constant action.
00:06:45
Speaker
There's nobody just like watching something.
00:06:47
Speaker
It is, it's a lot of, you know, swiping and this, that, and the other thing.
00:06:51
Speaker
We don't, our, you know, our attention span has already been shortened.
00:06:54
Speaker
And I don't know that it could be made any shorter.
00:06:57
Speaker
Wait, what were you talking about?
00:06:59
Speaker
I kind of lost focus.
00:07:01
Speaker
I actually, yeah, could you repeat the question?
00:07:03
Speaker
Wrap it up.
00:07:04
Speaker
What's shorting up there?
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, what you were talking about was more than 20 seconds, so I kind of freaked out a little bit.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
Our own personal Oscar music that needs to kick in, like, wrap it up.
00:07:19
Speaker
Well, I don't know about you guys, but I actually have noticed how the impact of that is affecting my ability to stay focused while reading.
00:07:29
Speaker
So reading a book is something I actually do a lot less of these days.
00:07:33
Speaker
Unfortunately, I'd like to do more reading, which I'm working on it.
00:07:37
Speaker
But I do notice when I sit down to read a book, my attention span is so much shorter than it used to be.
00:07:43
Speaker
It takes me so much longer to read.
00:07:45
Speaker
And so these days I've been actually working on...
00:07:49
Speaker
doing it for longer periods of time and actually sitting down to read something for more than five minutes.
00:07:54
Speaker
So that way I can cultivate that focus because like you were saying, Yanis, it's I am starting to become more and more aware of where that swipe mentality pops in and going like, oh, wow, is this actually beneficial to my consciousness or is this actually making things more difficult for me?
Balancing Quick Media and Focus
00:08:10
Speaker
And so I think what you were saying to Halcyon around is this a crutch or is it a tool, right?
00:08:15
Speaker
Because we can be so efficient when we are having these little short bits of information coming in.
00:08:22
Speaker
We can get a lot more information in at once in one sense, you know, because you get a little chunk here, you kind of then move on to the next thing and you get another piece there and then you move on to the next thing and then you're digesting so much information.
00:08:33
Speaker
But then how much is it really landing?
00:08:37
Speaker
You know, so I feel like it is it's a balance of being able to catch ourselves if we're in that place of feeling like it's supporting us or not.
00:08:46
Speaker
Right.
00:08:47
Speaker
I think that, you know, we should it's important to know how much is working against us and how much science is being used against us and the way our brains work.
00:08:56
Speaker
you know, like we're talking 20 seconds.
00:08:58
Speaker
That's when we're watching something that we like, you know, like, and this is this, the, the awareness within our brain that there is something right after this.
00:09:08
Speaker
There's something more, there's something more, there's something more.
00:09:10
Speaker
It just so ties into the way our brains work with its dopamine hits that it's, it's, it's very difficult to, to pull out of it.
00:09:18
Speaker
And the thing that is even scarier is that there was one time when we would go to media before the internet, when we would,
00:09:25
Speaker
We would watch what was on at the time.
00:09:27
Speaker
You know, you go and sit down in a room to watch what was on at the time.
00:09:31
Speaker
And then we had things available on our phones and then those phones had it on demand.
00:09:37
Speaker
But what has happened recently is that as we are looking at things, even without telling our device, oh, I like that.
00:09:46
Speaker
Oh, give me more motivational quotes.
00:09:48
Speaker
It is paying attention to exactly how we interact with things.
00:09:52
Speaker
So if I spend a little too much time before I hit next on a video of a street fight, I get another street fight video pretty soon.
00:10:02
Speaker
And now my scrolling is filled with things that if you ask me, it's like, would you like to watch some MFA or MMA or whatever?
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm like, hell no, I don't want to watch that.
00:10:12
Speaker
And yet something in me does like watching that.
00:10:15
Speaker
Something in me does like watching people fighting outside.
00:10:19
Speaker
And so it's tapped into this reptilian world.
00:10:23
Speaker
wiring in my brain that it really, if you don't consciously fight against it, it is so hard to work against the technology that's against us right now.
00:10:33
Speaker
Or a little reframe, how do we work with it rather than fight against it?
00:10:40
Speaker
You know, I think that this is really valuable because the more we become aware of these subtle manipulations of our consciousness, the more we're able to go like, oh, that's there and I'm going to shift my habit patterns.
00:10:52
Speaker
Otherwise, we're just mindlessly going into it and we stay asleep, right?
00:10:57
Speaker
It's entrainment.
00:10:58
Speaker
But if we're becoming more aware of the programs, whether that's an internal program of our own or an external something that is influencing our consciousness, the awareness is such a huge part of it.
Media Consumption Awareness and Action
00:11:11
Speaker
If you know that you're getting these videos that are popping up on your feed,
00:11:16
Speaker
and they're showing up more, and you are seeing that the algorithms is starting to influence you, then how do you take action to change it?
00:11:23
Speaker
Right?
00:11:23
Speaker
I know for me personally, I can feel when there's a hook.
00:11:27
Speaker
It feels kind of like an energetic hook within myself.
00:11:31
Speaker
And when I start to become aware of that hook, it's usually because my body will feel sort of paralyzed.
00:11:39
Speaker
Like, have you guys ever had that experience where you're holding your device, and you're scrolling, and you just can't put your thumb down?
00:11:45
Speaker
And you're like, I need to go to bed and I can't stop.
00:11:48
Speaker
And it's like, oh, my God, my body's frozen right now.
00:11:51
Speaker
Right.
00:11:51
Speaker
That's my body saying, like, you got hooked on, girl.
00:11:54
Speaker
And then it's like, when that happens to me, then I have to delete those certain things that are pulling my attention.
00:12:00
Speaker
And it's similar with other substances and things like that.
00:12:03
Speaker
Coffee.
00:12:04
Speaker
If coffee has a hook on me, then it's like I can tell I need to take a break.
00:12:08
Speaker
And so having these digital detoxes, I feel this are really, really helpful and healthy for our consciousness.
Documenting Memories Beyond Social Media
00:12:15
Speaker
And I know for me personally, it's like, oh, wow, my mindset starts to shift when I delete those apps, even from the ability to see beauty.
00:12:23
Speaker
Because what happens is I start viewing the world when I'm in Instagram and I'm on social media, I start viewing the world through the lens of video.
00:12:32
Speaker
What would this beautiful scene that I'm seeing right here in front of me look like on a reel?
00:12:37
Speaker
Can I capture that and share it with the world?
00:12:40
Speaker
You know, ooh, I want to, I want to like put that into my device and then share it with the world.
00:12:44
Speaker
And then when I delete the app, then all of a sudden I'm experiencing the world in a whole other way without this feeling of needing to capture it and share it.
00:12:52
Speaker
I don't know if that's what you guys experienced, but that's definitely.
00:12:55
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:12:56
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:12:57
Speaker
I think that there's, I mean, you know, Alan Watts talked about this a long time ago that we fall into this idea of if it's not recorded, it doesn't have value.
00:13:08
Speaker
And there's this beautiful thing I think that happened with social media that I was a huge proponent of early on is that...
00:13:14
Speaker
we get to shift from consumers of media to creators of media.
00:13:19
Speaker
And in doing so, we get to put ourselves as the protagonists of our story.
00:13:23
Speaker
And we're narrating, we're telling the stories of our lives, which is awesome.
00:13:28
Speaker
But it's so easy to slip into that lens of you start looking at everything like you are scouting sets and you're scouting angles, you know?
00:13:37
Speaker
And so, you know, I was in the mountains this weekend on a beautiful vista and I'm like, ooh,
00:13:43
Speaker
hey, Lisa, can you record like 15 seconds, but with a bunch of me in the corner of the screen so that I could put some text here later once I know what I want to say there.
00:13:52
Speaker
And I was like, oh, God, I'm on a mountaintop with my beloved.
00:13:56
Speaker
And I am future thinking about a reel that I might want to create because I'm like, that's the, that's the, the, it's awesome.
00:14:05
Speaker
And it's sort of weird.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:08
Speaker
Well, yeah, it's, well, it's, it's weird.
00:14:10
Speaker
And it's a bit of a, you know,
00:14:12
Speaker
And maybe, I don't know, I'm not sure the paradox or yeah, it's like, you know, I'm on this mountaintop and I'm one of like standing here and frame it, but filming for this way is like, okay, you are no longer on that mountaintop.
00:14:24
Speaker
You are in a completely different place looking at the scenario through a lens that you don't even have in your hands yet.
00:14:31
Speaker
And this is what it does.
00:14:34
Speaker
This is how it gets us.
00:14:36
Speaker
I think it can go in a lot of directions because I am so grateful for so many of the things that I have captured.
00:14:42
Speaker
There's so many memories and beautiful moments that I love getting my Facebook memories every day and seeing what happened a year ago, five years ago, and eight years ago.
00:14:52
Speaker
Although lately I've been noticing, man, that guy certainly is in good shape.
00:14:56
Speaker
Who is this looking young, young man?
00:14:59
Speaker
But I, I, I do love that, that there's so many memories that, that have captured.
00:15:03
Speaker
So I think the instinct on the mountaintop to say, I want to remember this is healthy.
00:15:07
Speaker
I think the instinct to go, how can I frame this scene in a way that it will be a good reel?
00:15:14
Speaker
That gets to me where it's a little less beautiful.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker
That's what I'm, that's what I'm referring to.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:19
Speaker
And how do we actually use our devices for documentation to create our memories?
00:15:24
Speaker
Right.
00:15:24
Speaker
Because like our ancestors would use photo books and they would take photos and put them in their photo albums and have the memories.
00:15:31
Speaker
And oftentimes you think about like if you have a fire, what's this thing you're going to grab?
00:15:35
Speaker
It's like your photo book.
00:15:36
Speaker
Photo books are like the thing.
00:15:38
Speaker
Right.
00:15:38
Speaker
Hard drives.
00:15:39
Speaker
But now we have this social media as sort of a hard drive of storing our memories.
00:15:47
Speaker
Right.
00:15:47
Speaker
But the interesting thing that and I'd love some inspiration on this is that it's not actually very stable.
00:15:54
Speaker
Right.
00:15:54
Speaker
Because if we put all of our memories and all of our photos and everything online and then something happens, it crashes, you get hacked.
00:16:03
Speaker
All of that goes away.
00:16:04
Speaker
It's gone forever.
00:16:06
Speaker
And that's just the instability of the Internet.
00:16:08
Speaker
You just never know.
00:16:09
Speaker
Right.
00:16:10
Speaker
And so how do we actually start to document our lives and save these beautiful memories of us being on the mountaintop with the beloved or, you know, whatever it might be in a way that is still fulfilling and also more safe, I guess, you know?
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah.
Resurgence of Physical Media
00:16:29
Speaker
I don't think that those social media platforms really do do that for us.
00:16:34
Speaker
You totally love it.
00:16:34
Speaker
And I think that we don't want to get like, this could be a whole like episode of a more technically oriented podcast to like ways to back up and make things there.
00:16:44
Speaker
But I find all the time I'll have memories come up and the video no longer has sound.
00:16:48
Speaker
It originally had sound when it went on Facebook 10 years ago.
00:16:51
Speaker
And now it has no sound or an image that has been degraded.
00:16:54
Speaker
It's way less crisp than when I, when I first put it online.
00:16:57
Speaker
So yeah, you really cannot depend on these, uh, these companies that are making money off you to be the, the, the holders of your, your preciousness.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah, this is I was gonna say that there was a quick little spark because I'm feeling like, you know, if I'm really checking with myself, why do I use social media?
00:17:21
Speaker
Why do I love capturing images and sharing it?
00:17:24
Speaker
And, you know, it really does come from that place of collecting my memories and holding my memories in a safe place.
00:17:31
Speaker
And the spark that's coming alive for me is like, well, how can I do that more efficiently?
00:17:36
Speaker
maybe I can start to print some of these photos.
00:17:38
Speaker
Maybe I can actually start to save my images on hard drives more regularly.
00:17:43
Speaker
So that way I can come back to them and I can share them with my loved ones and, you know, use them in a different way.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:51
Speaker
Thank you.
00:17:52
Speaker
Thank you, Allison.
00:17:52
Speaker
And it's, it kind of coincides, I think with there's, there's a rise now in a DVD sales because people are turning out.
00:18:03
Speaker
They, they want the thing.
00:18:06
Speaker
in their hands, they want to be able to watch it whenever they want to watch it.
00:18:09
Speaker
And being able to watch it now, if you're going to stream something, it requires a signal.
00:18:12
Speaker
You have to be Wi-Fi or stream these things.
00:18:15
Speaker
And these things are unreliable.
00:18:16
Speaker
They're out of your grasp.
00:18:18
Speaker
So there is a rise in people actually having...
00:18:23
Speaker
physical media to hold on to.
00:18:24
Speaker
And I think that goes to what you're saying, that's a, uh, with like, okay, there's, you know, they have digital photo albums.
00:18:29
Speaker
It's like, I, I want to be able to hold the thing.
00:18:32
Speaker
Either I print it out or I, or I have the, the thing that holds the information that, um, that I want photos, video, what have you.
00:18:41
Speaker
So I think there's an overall move to, to, you know, you know, the idea that, um,
00:18:49
Speaker
Technology is always this forward progress.
00:18:53
Speaker
And there is a limit.
00:18:55
Speaker
We reach a limit where there's diminishing returns, like we got to with the toaster.
00:19:00
Speaker
I think the toaster maxed out like 30 years.
00:19:03
Speaker
And now it's like, oh, but this toaster is connected to the internet.
00:19:07
Speaker
It's like, no, I don't need that.
00:19:10
Speaker
It's like, all I need is toast.
00:19:12
Speaker
And it's like, but it's got 18 settings.
00:19:14
Speaker
And you can put Jesus on.
00:19:15
Speaker
You can toast Jesus's image on the toast settings.
00:19:18
Speaker
Well, I'd like to just let that happen organically if it's going to happen, you know.
00:19:23
Speaker
I don't want to orchestrate the divine miracles.
00:19:26
Speaker
And so I think we're getting to that point with social media where it's like, okay, it's maxed out.
00:19:34
Speaker
And now we're just kind of like,
00:19:37
Speaker
beating this dead horse and try to get more out of it.
00:19:39
Speaker
And it's like, no, I think, I think we've maxed out.
00:19:41
Speaker
So now let's, let's go back.
00:19:43
Speaker
I don't want to have to rely on these, these media sites to save my information, to save my memories.
00:19:51
Speaker
I'll, I'll do that.
00:19:52
Speaker
Thank you very much.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
There's, there's something about the, the, you talk about physical, the physicalness of it.
00:19:58
Speaker
Um, and as a slight side note, and I went to this, uh, cabin that had a phonograph, uh,
00:20:05
Speaker
player and a collection of vinyl.
00:20:07
Speaker
And I was kind of surprised by how much I enjoyed playing records, you know, and physical, the physical experience, even though there's a cracking and the popping, there was this thing about the, the, some sensation of experiencing a physical thing.
00:20:21
Speaker
And I think there is something true now.
00:20:22
Speaker
Like if I go through old photo albums, I do enjoy flipping through photo albums.
00:20:27
Speaker
And one thing that I've done recently is I will get pictures that I really enjoy and have them printed out and
00:20:33
Speaker
Or I will have canvases, like larger canvases made of pictures, which is highly recommend that as a gift thing.
00:20:40
Speaker
It's fairly inexpensive and it looks really cool.
00:20:42
Speaker
My house is covered in digital photographs that I have blown up.
00:20:47
Speaker
Because one of the problems with our digital collecting of things is that there's no cost.
00:20:54
Speaker
Remember back in the day when you had a camera and you had 24 pictures to take and it was going to cost you to develop them.
00:21:00
Speaker
So you wouldn't just go to a party and go, oh, let me get, okay, no, from this angle, not from this angle, but we do that now.
00:21:07
Speaker
And so if I look at my hard drives or my photo albums online, I mean, on my phone or something, I'm
00:21:15
Speaker
I have to scroll through so many pictures and really without doing some sort of curating.
00:21:22
Speaker
It's a big old mess.
00:21:24
Speaker
I don't know.
00:21:25
Speaker
It's kind of like taking a video of a parade.
00:21:27
Speaker
Like, when are you going to watch that?
00:21:27
Speaker
When am I going to look through all these pictures again?
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:31
Speaker
So what's that you're saying about there being no cost to that?
00:21:34
Speaker
It's like.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
Your time is the cost.
00:21:37
Speaker
Now your time is the cost.
00:21:39
Speaker
Your mental capacity is the cost.
00:21:41
Speaker
Your bandwidth is the cost.
00:21:42
Speaker
There's always a cost.
00:21:43
Speaker
So it's like we need to figure out what's what's worth is the thing we're doing worth the cost.
00:21:49
Speaker
And that's been something that I've been encountered as I've gotten older, as I continue to get older.
00:21:56
Speaker
The time factor is so much more valuable to me these days.
00:22:01
Speaker
And I'm able to frame things like I'm likely in the second half of my life.
00:22:07
Speaker
I mean, there might be medical advances that allow me to live to age 120, 130 years old.
00:22:13
Speaker
But probably living to be 112 would put me squarely in the halfway point of my life right now.
00:22:20
Speaker
And that realization or that acceptance that you're in the second half of your life is frankly kind of bracing.
00:22:26
Speaker
It's like, oh, geez.
00:22:27
Speaker
All right.
00:22:28
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:29
Speaker
So I'm able to much easier project myself into the future and look back on my life now and be like, okay, is future self going to be stoked that I spent time doing this thing that I'm currently doing?
00:22:40
Speaker
And that's a yes, no answer.
00:22:42
Speaker
And a lot of times I'm like, no, no, put the phone down.
00:22:46
Speaker
No, put this thing away.
00:22:48
Speaker
I need to be doing, I need to be outside.
00:22:51
Speaker
I need to be doing a whole lot of other things and sitting with my face like four inches away from the screen.
00:22:56
Speaker
So it is a, it is a tool.
00:22:57
Speaker
It is a valuable tool, but for me and for me, what I have, what I I'm curating my experience a lot more these days.
Intentional Social Media Usage
00:23:07
Speaker
I'm using Facebook, for example, used to be a real scrolling kind of thing for me.
00:23:12
Speaker
I'm like, no, it's now a Rolodex for me.
00:23:14
Speaker
If I need to reach out to somebody, pretty much every friend I have might not all be in my phone, but between my phone and Facebook, they're all there.
00:23:20
Speaker
So I can, if I need to reach out to somebody, I can ping them and they'll reach back and then
00:23:26
Speaker
We're off and running.
00:23:27
Speaker
I don't need to use it to, I don't, it's, it's not an entertainment.
00:23:29
Speaker
It's not a source of entertainment.
00:23:31
Speaker
And if I can, I can look up a business there.
00:23:33
Speaker
And I think for me, that is the, that's a proper use of this tool right now.
00:23:38
Speaker
And it kind of make, and if you're using something by definition, I think, well, maybe not, but I was going to say by definition, it's not able to use you if you're using it.
00:23:48
Speaker
So that allows me to kind of free myself from the getting used,
00:23:55
Speaker
I think that's really powerful to be able to declare it as a specific use in that way, right?
00:24:02
Speaker
Have it as a tool to support your connections.
00:24:06
Speaker
And I think that's really valuable as well to recognize that your time is more important and that there is this like time suck energy that can come from scrolling.
00:24:15
Speaker
And also it is really a very real distraction tool.
00:24:20
Speaker
Right.
00:24:21
Speaker
I think that I know personally I struggle with distraction and procrastination.
00:24:27
Speaker
If I have a really big to do list and I get overwhelmed with all my to do list that I'm like, ah, I can't I can't do anything because I can't I'm feeling overwhelmed.
00:24:36
Speaker
Let me just look at something meaningless and then it can suck me into it.
00:24:40
Speaker
And it creates this.
00:24:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:42
Speaker
You know, and then I'm like even less productive.
00:24:45
Speaker
And so I think it's a really important to come back to that place of awareness and intention.
00:24:50
Speaker
And to be able to recognize when I'm using it as a tool to distract myself from really staying focused to what I'm here to do.
00:24:58
Speaker
And it takes a lot of energy to be able to call ourselves out from those places.
00:25:03
Speaker
And this actually, I think, can speak to a future episode that we're kind of like we have the topic of percolating.
00:25:11
Speaker
is around like hiding and not letting ourselves really be fully seen or kind of holding ourselves back from being in the full expression of who we are in the world or doing the things that we're here to do, right?
00:25:23
Speaker
Where does that procrastination come in?
00:25:26
Speaker
And how do I watch when social media or technology starts to pull on that pattern or like kind of like
00:25:34
Speaker
How do I lure me into the procrastinator inside of myself?
00:25:39
Speaker
And then how do I rise up and out of that and be able to see?
00:25:43
Speaker
And so for me, it's like, like you said, Yanis, it's like, okay, I'm going to use this as a very specific tool for either Rolodexing or events.
00:25:52
Speaker
I feel like those are two really, really important things for me to stay on social media, to stay up to date on where the things are happening so I can actually go see my people in person and support people that are putting things on.
00:26:05
Speaker
And then also to be able to stay in touch with people globally.
00:26:08
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:26:09
Speaker
You just hit some deep stuff for me because I've become very aware in the last year of my version of sobriety that social became a substitute distraction or a escape.
00:26:23
Speaker
There was a time when
00:26:25
Speaker
I kind of had a feeling of like not quite sure what to do with myself or afraid of engaging in some project that was a little scary.
00:26:34
Speaker
And so the easy thing to do is to get high.
00:26:37
Speaker
Now, the easy distraction, the easy numbing is...
00:26:41
Speaker
Something that entertainment, some scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll.
00:26:43
Speaker
And so, and it starts with just like a momentary, let me just have a breath of, of ease.
00:26:49
Speaker
Let me just, just look at something to distract me for a second, but that's not how it works.
00:26:54
Speaker
You know, it's such you in, and then it's 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 40 minutes, um,
00:26:58
Speaker
And there's, I think that what I, in fact, this morning in my morning broadcast, when I set my intentions for the day, I like, I am going to reduce my scrolling today.
00:27:07
Speaker
I'm going to be minimally scrolling today.
00:27:09
Speaker
And I think it's the kind of thing that helps on like a sticky note and putting it around your house or having like an alarm on your phone saying today is that, you know, you're not going to be scrolling today because it, it,
00:27:19
Speaker
you can get caught over and over and over and over again.
00:27:22
Speaker
At least I can.
00:27:23
Speaker
And it's just, I need to be reminded.
00:27:26
Speaker
I need to forgive myself.
00:27:27
Speaker
And I also just needed to keep being that intentional thing you're saying of like, wait, is this how I want to be spending my time?
00:27:33
Speaker
Is this how I want to be spending my time?
00:27:35
Speaker
And the answer is almost never yes, unless it is using it for one of the uses that you've outlined.
00:27:42
Speaker
Or for me, I do enjoy creating content and sharing content.
00:27:47
Speaker
I like if it's, if I think it's inspiring or funny, I like the feeling of connection.
00:27:51
Speaker
But what I have to really watch myself is then I get sucked in the comments and then I get, it's kind of this, this, this like low grade thread of connection that I feel that's kind of soothing.
00:28:03
Speaker
And I could just keep checking comments and looking at comments and, and it's almost like a feeling of low grade socializing.
00:28:11
Speaker
So it, it, I'm not alone and I, that feels good.
00:28:15
Speaker
But on a long, when I look at the full day, it kept me from calling a friend.
00:28:21
Speaker
It kept me from going out of the house.
00:28:24
Speaker
And so it's like, it's filling my belly with styrofoam, but it's not giving me any nutrition.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yeah, so to that point, it's something that's interesting.
00:28:34
Speaker
I...
00:28:34
Speaker
heard a couple of bigger content creators kind of say the same thing.
00:28:39
Speaker
Like there is a process for that for them to when they create a reel or they create something else.
00:28:46
Speaker
And, you know, a little side note as far as like you were talking about those sticky notes.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah, just put a sticky note like on your phone, like on your screen.
00:28:55
Speaker
And so that says put me down or something like that.
00:28:58
Speaker
That way you just like have to lift up the sticky note to do your scrolling.
00:29:03
Speaker
But
00:29:04
Speaker
But these content creators had a pretty good process, like the creative thing, and they're only allowing themselves to engage in the first 10 comments or the first five comments.
00:29:14
Speaker
And then that is the limit to their engagement.
00:29:17
Speaker
And they're like, okay, so I will actually respond to the first 10 people.
00:29:20
Speaker
And they'll get like hundreds of comments or thousands of comments.
00:29:23
Speaker
But like, no, the first 10 people who are on it obviously are like,
00:29:27
Speaker
into what I'm putting on.
00:29:28
Speaker
So I'll engage with them, even if it's like negative, uh, they'll still engage with them, but then 10 comments in that's it.
00:29:33
Speaker
And then they're off and, you know, off, you know, having their day, living their lives, so to speak.
00:29:38
Speaker
So we have to have a, a, a process, I guess you'd say it for want of a better term for how we do the set from start to finish that allows us to actually finish and close our phones and continue on with the rest of our lives.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:29:53
Speaker
And you know what, you're speaking to something else I'm noticing as sort of a byproduct or sort of the shadow side of the social media too, on how our social engagement is in physical form.
00:30:05
Speaker
When we come in contact with real people, it can be confronting.
00:30:09
Speaker
Right.
00:30:10
Speaker
Because we're not so used to being so connected.
00:30:13
Speaker
Right.
00:30:13
Speaker
Like the screen kind of connects us, but also keeps us divided in a way.
00:30:19
Speaker
And I think that that is a really important thing to pay attention to as our species evolves to continue to tend to our abilities to be in close quarters with people and to be able to speak to people personally face to face and not through the screen.
00:30:39
Speaker
You know, you said the low-grade connection.
00:30:41
Speaker
It's like using social media to feel connected because we're feeling isolated.
00:30:46
Speaker
Well, how do we actually really start to remedy that and support our need for connection out in the world, right?
00:30:56
Speaker
Do we start to maybe call a friend on the phone?
00:30:59
Speaker
What would that feel like?
00:31:01
Speaker
You know, how often are we actually...
00:31:04
Speaker
calling people these days, it's like, oh, let me just memo them or let me just text them.
00:31:10
Speaker
And having these live conversations is really important for our psychology, for our human need for connection and to be able to use our voices and to be able to practice listening and having live
00:31:26
Speaker
in-person conversations is really important.
00:31:28
Speaker
And if we're not doing that and we're constantly getting into this process of separation, then I think that it makes it much more difficult than when we do see people.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, I know that it makes it easy to see, is this a crutch?
00:31:41
Speaker
Is this a tool?
00:31:42
Speaker
And in those situations, it's like, oh, clearly this is a crutch.
00:31:46
Speaker
It's not the tool of connection.
00:31:48
Speaker
It's something other than that.
00:31:49
Speaker
I wanted to share, I had on my lock screen for a very long time.
00:31:54
Speaker
It's a comic that says, someone looking at their phone and on their phone, it says, what you are looking for is not here.
00:32:00
Speaker
I love that.
00:32:02
Speaker
When I look down at my phone, it says, what you're looking for is not here.
00:32:05
Speaker
Right, right, right, right, right.
00:32:06
Speaker
Okay, do something else.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
Feel free to feel free to send that to me.
00:32:11
Speaker
There's a movie.
00:32:12
Speaker
Did you guys see The Social Dilemma?
00:32:14
Speaker
Oh, my God.
00:32:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:32:16
Speaker
That one.
00:32:16
Speaker
That movie went viral.
00:32:17
Speaker
So if anyone watching hasn't seen it, I would be surprised.
00:32:20
Speaker
But it definitely is very insightful in this conversation.
00:32:23
Speaker
It came out a couple of years ago.
00:32:25
Speaker
It's on Netflix, I think.
00:32:48
Speaker
it's essential.
00:32:49
Speaker
This is a huge part of our world.
00:32:50
Speaker
When you look at the children, the way that they're growing up with computers from a very young, young age, and we are a generation that, you know, we
Mindful Media Consumption
00:33:00
Speaker
didn't have computers.
00:33:00
Speaker
And so we were like, maybe teenagers.
00:33:03
Speaker
And even that was just like typing very small amounts, like internet was embedded when we were their ages, you know, and so this isn't going anywhere.
00:33:12
Speaker
But how do we
00:33:13
Speaker
really interact with it, work with it in a way that supports the world that we want to create.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:19
Speaker
I think it's really critical to think and know that the creators of the tools are not benevolent parental forces.
00:33:31
Speaker
You know, that if we just...
00:33:34
Speaker
Because there is an instinct to think, oh, these things are helpful and just to trust that these are tools that are helping us.
00:33:40
Speaker
But really, they're used to extract things from us and to extract value from us.
00:33:45
Speaker
And so you really need to do some of the things we're talking about today of...
00:33:50
Speaker
How do I want to use this?
00:33:51
Speaker
What is the amount of time I want to be using this?
00:33:54
Speaker
When am I using this that is a feeling of productivity and when is it a distraction?
00:34:01
Speaker
And to really keep reminding yourself, like, I'm using this thing, but it's dangerous.
00:34:06
Speaker
Kind of like, I'm playing with fire.
00:34:08
Speaker
Fire is amazing.
00:34:09
Speaker
It's going to cook your food and it's super beneficial.
00:34:11
Speaker
It's going to keep you warm, super beneficial.
00:34:13
Speaker
And it can burn your house down.
00:34:14
Speaker
It can scar your skin.
00:34:16
Speaker
Be careful when you're dealing with fire and be careful when you're working with social media.
00:34:21
Speaker
If you just get willy-nilly, it's going to hurt.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:26
Speaker
To what you're both saying, it's like, it's not going anywhere.
00:34:31
Speaker
So we need to figure out, we need to curate our relationship with it.
00:34:36
Speaker
and be mindful about it.
00:34:37
Speaker
Otherwise, yeah, anything can happen.
00:34:40
Speaker
So it's like having to... There was a time where I was in Bali.
00:34:46
Speaker
I was staying in Bali for a while.
00:34:48
Speaker
And every night there was this pack of wild dogs that would come out and just post up in this one spot.
00:34:53
Speaker
But I had to go through this spot like every night that I went out or I had to be mindful to be home before I before like a certain time of night.
00:35:02
Speaker
So I wouldn't have to deal with these dogs.
00:35:03
Speaker
And so there was a couple of nights that I forgot.
00:35:06
Speaker
And I just had to buzz my scooter.
00:35:07
Speaker
I had to gun my scooter through like 12 dogs.
00:35:10
Speaker
I was like nipping at my heels.
00:35:12
Speaker
And I was complaining.
00:35:14
Speaker
And this is like the only way for me to get home.
00:35:17
Speaker
So it was a thing.
00:35:18
Speaker
And then I talked to a local and he was like, have you thought about like bringing dog biscuits?
00:35:23
Speaker
And like, like, no, I hadn't.
00:35:25
Speaker
He's like, bring dog biscuits, go there, stop, give them dog biscuits.
00:35:30
Speaker
And then you're somebody that is like, they see you.
00:35:33
Speaker
They're like, oh, that's the guy.
00:35:34
Speaker
How to give us dog biscuits.
00:35:35
Speaker
Do that a couple of times and you're fine.
00:35:37
Speaker
He's like, that's what we do.
00:35:38
Speaker
And it's like, oh, all right.
00:35:40
Speaker
And it's like, oh yeah.
00:35:41
Speaker
So you have to, if something is unavoidable, you have to be proactive to
00:35:47
Speaker
make it so that it works in your favor or that it doesn't affect you in the negative so uh there's multiple ways to go about that like that's what we talked about before like you know taking your taking your media off of like some host site that is out of your hands is unreliable and then this way it's back in your hands and it's this one less thing that's on your plate that you have to worry about so um we this is all they know the whole like social media thing and
00:36:11
Speaker
You know, it's awesome if you are mindful about how you engage with
Mindfulness Before the Internet Era
00:36:17
Speaker
it.
00:36:17
Speaker
There's a great quote, a clip going viral right now with a comedian named Des Bishop.
00:36:23
Speaker
And he talks about like when we were young, we didn't know it, but we were all masters of mindfulness.
00:36:30
Speaker
Nobody, when I was a teenager, mentioned the word mindfulness.
00:36:34
Speaker
And do you know why that was?
00:36:35
Speaker
Because we were mindful half of every day because we didn't have a choice.
00:36:41
Speaker
We didn't have a cable service in our pocket.
00:36:44
Speaker
Well, I waited for somebody.
00:36:46
Speaker
You waited.
00:36:47
Speaker
Mindfulness.
00:36:49
Speaker
You're on the bus.
00:36:50
Speaker
You're on the bus watching condensation drip.
00:36:52
Speaker
Mindfulness.
00:36:55
Speaker
Mindfulness.
00:36:57
Speaker
I didn't realize I was like a beer room.
00:37:00
Speaker
We feel our day of selfie.
00:37:02
Speaker
I'm just saying that there were times when we were forced to be with ourselves.
00:37:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:06
Speaker
Now, sometimes I'll be like, I'll be running home.
00:37:09
Speaker
I'm so addicted to my phone.
00:37:10
Speaker
I'll get home.
00:37:11
Speaker
I'll meet you to the bathroom.
00:37:12
Speaker
I'll go, wow, I just made it.
00:37:13
Speaker
And then I'll realize I left my phone and my jacket.
00:37:14
Speaker
I'll pick my pants back up.
00:37:16
Speaker
I'll go back outside.
00:37:17
Speaker
I'll be like, oh my god.
00:37:21
Speaker
I was nearly with myself for two minutes.
00:37:23
Speaker
What would I have done with my thoughts?
00:37:26
Speaker
Our whole minds and the whole way that we look at the world is really in danger of being changed in a way that we stop noticing.
00:37:34
Speaker
Because I know that if I get in my car, I'm listening to a podcast.
00:37:41
Speaker
If I am going for a walk, I am listening to something.
00:37:44
Speaker
In fact, one of the only ways that I can read now is an audiobook while I'm doing something else.
00:37:49
Speaker
I feel that's why the podcast realm is thriving.
00:37:54
Speaker
It's because it allows you to listen and
00:37:57
Speaker
while you're doing something else we're all just with the way the world is right now we all have a to-do list of 20 items on it and so to sit and read takes a lot of discipline to sit down and actually read a book even if it's like highly enjoyable uh much easier to like i honestly sad to say i can't even remember the last book that i sat and read it's been audiobooks for the last several years because that allows me to do other things like
00:38:23
Speaker
work or drive or walk could be out in nature or you know whatever but it's it takes a lot of discipline to scale that back and be like no i'm actually going to sit and read yeah you know what i found has actually been really helpful for me in my reading practice is reading to someone yes
00:38:42
Speaker
And it really has been a beautiful way to stay committed and stay focused when someone else is there.
00:38:49
Speaker
And same thing with meditating.
00:38:51
Speaker
Meditating with other people can actually help to build the practice because there's a certain level of accountability that we have when we are with someone else or with a group.
00:39:01
Speaker
And so I find it really and really sweet to get to to do that more.
00:39:07
Speaker
I like to meditate to other people.
00:39:09
Speaker
What does it say to me right now?
00:39:11
Speaker
I meditate so hard right now.
00:39:13
Speaker
Wow, I feel it.
00:39:14
Speaker
I am so freaking so enlightened.
00:39:17
Speaker
I'm so enlightened.
00:39:19
Speaker
Well, this might be a topic for another show, but what if we don't like other people?
00:39:24
Speaker
I want to
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's like, I want to read.
00:39:28
Speaker
I'll catch read, but I have to involve somebody else in this.
00:39:30
Speaker
Hey, you have a baby.
00:39:32
Speaker
Yeah, you want to prefer a big audience.
00:39:34
Speaker
You're going to start reading your baby.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yes, but I can't read Slaughterhouse-Five to my child yet.
00:39:40
Speaker
It's all like, baby lion goes roar.
00:39:42
Speaker
It's like a figure puppet.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah, but he's still tiny.
00:39:46
Speaker
You won't get it.
00:39:46
Speaker
I guess you're going to, he's a sponge.
00:39:48
Speaker
Well, OK, you know, this actually brings up kind of like a consideration.
00:39:53
Speaker
And I think we can probably start moving towards closing sparks, but just really considering how we are getting to evolve with technology, recognizing like you have this little itty bitty baby that is growing up in a world where technology is happening.
00:40:07
Speaker
highly, highly advanced, well beyond what was our upbringing and our formidable years, right?
00:40:15
Speaker
And so how do we flow with it with the rapid growth of technology?
00:40:23
Speaker
How do we continue to stay grounded within our own sense of self and our own physical bodies and into the earth and also work with the technology?
00:40:32
Speaker
I think that that's the continued conversation and inner inquiry that I am with myself.
Final Reflections on Technology and Growth
00:40:38
Speaker
And I'd love to, yeah, just maybe instigate a couple of closing sparks.
00:40:41
Speaker
You guys got any?
00:40:43
Speaker
Go for it.
00:40:44
Speaker
You know, listening to you right now, what that sparks for me is thinking back to the weekend I just had with Baby Boy and the family and such.
00:40:55
Speaker
he to engage with him demands presence.
00:40:59
Speaker
Like if, cause there's times where like, I'm trying to hold him and I'm like, got a phone, you know, in my other hand.
00:41:05
Speaker
And he sees like, he is like immediately, if there's a screen anywhere in his like periphery, he absolutely locks on it, whether it's a television monitor or laptop or whatever.
00:41:18
Speaker
And so you have to like, so there's this dance of like keeping it,
00:41:22
Speaker
trying to keep it out of this viewpoint.
00:41:23
Speaker
And then catching myself and my partner did this as well.
00:41:26
Speaker
We kind of catch ourselves like, why am I holding a phone with my baby in one hand, phone to the other, or I'm trying to watch this thing or whatever.
00:41:33
Speaker
It's like, no,
00:41:34
Speaker
whatever we're doing demands presence.
00:41:36
Speaker
And when we try to do, it's so easy to do too much to multitask because we're wired to do that.
00:41:44
Speaker
We are well advised to scale back and do, because if you're multitasking, it means you're doing two or more things half-assed.
00:41:52
Speaker
You can do, if you focus on the one thing, you're actually going to be pretty awesome at it.
00:41:55
Speaker
So, and you'll get it done much, much faster as well.
00:41:58
Speaker
So,
00:42:00
Speaker
Do the one thing.
00:42:01
Speaker
And if that's going to be like, if you're going to be on the phone, engaging with social media or whatever, on your computer or whatever, that's fine.
00:42:09
Speaker
Do that one thing, but then have a process, like I mentioned before, to be dealt with it.
00:42:13
Speaker
So mindfulness, presence, and a process.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, we got to be mindful about this stuff.
00:42:23
Speaker
You know, I am just thinking about how much I appreciate this medium of podcasting that allows us to have this longer conversation about this.
00:42:32
Speaker
And I want to say thank you to anyone who's listening and got this far into it and has given us this much of your time and your attention.
00:42:39
Speaker
And I would even say, like, if you want to send us a note or a comment on our podcast,
00:42:44
Speaker
Stay Sparked Instagram or leave us a review.
00:42:48
Speaker
We will give you a personal note back.
00:42:49
Speaker
We would love to know and reward you and connect with you.
00:42:52
Speaker
If you are listening to this, we value and want to be connected and want to hear from you.
00:42:58
Speaker
And so I will say thank you as I launch into my entire life story, which is that I grew up free internet and
00:43:07
Speaker
And, you know, running around outside, no computers, no video games, had Pong.
00:43:13
Speaker
I remember my first Pong game.
00:43:15
Speaker
And so then when, after college, discovering the internet, it like hit me in the chest so hard that this is going to change the world.
00:43:25
Speaker
And in my mind, it was going to change the world.
00:43:26
Speaker
It was going to save the world.
00:43:28
Speaker
It was going to connect everyone.
00:43:30
Speaker
It was going to be a great equalizer.
00:43:32
Speaker
It was going to let the rare books and the rare perspectives and philosophies was going to be available to everyone.
00:43:38
Speaker
And this enlightenment was going to come and this connection to people of all different cultures.
00:43:41
Speaker
And we wouldn't be bound by our geography.
00:43:43
Speaker
We would be bound by our like interests.
00:43:45
Speaker
And all of that has happened.
00:43:47
Speaker
Amen.
00:43:47
Speaker
And I was a massive evangelist for it.
00:43:51
Speaker
And so then to kind of, in the last couple of years, I really had to pull back, catch my footing and realize it's not the benevolent savior that I hoped for.
00:44:04
Speaker
It has done a lot of wonderful things and it has also become a tool that is being used to manipulate in so many ways.
00:44:11
Speaker
And so on a daily basis, I am finding myself, if I am not actively evangelistic,
00:44:16
Speaker
working to be conscious about how I'm using this tool, I will slip into a behavior and usage that if I look back at it, I'm not that proud of.
00:44:28
Speaker
It's not the way I want to look back and say, oh yeah, like I'm not worried that I'm going to look back and go, oh, I wish I didn't spend so much time in the office.
00:44:34
Speaker
But I am worried that on my deathbed, I'll say, wow, I wish I didn't spend years of my life scrolling through neighborhood argument videos on my phone.
00:44:44
Speaker
And so I still believe that there's so many beautiful things that we can use these tools for.
00:44:50
Speaker
I still believe that when we are able to share vulnerable truth about ourselves, we are able to connect with other people in ways that geography sometimes just doesn't allow us.
00:45:03
Speaker
And that is something that is priceless.
00:45:06
Speaker
So we need to use the tools in ways that can allow us to find our truths and share our truths and connect with people and then turn it off, walk outside, feel the ground, talk to the neighbor, and really challenge ourselves to live in both worlds.
00:45:22
Speaker
Because if we don't do it consciously, we will slip out of the real world into our phones and our screens indefinitely.
00:45:29
Speaker
Hmm.
00:45:31
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:31
Speaker
Beautiful, beautiful.
00:45:33
Speaker
Share, I'll see.
00:45:33
Speaker
And yes to all of that.
00:45:36
Speaker
You know, I the way that I hear that and the way that it sparks me is mindfulness matters.
00:45:42
Speaker
It really does.
00:45:44
Speaker
Having the mindfulness within ourselves to recognize if we are using this beautiful thing that is a part of our world as a tool or a crutch.
00:45:54
Speaker
Is it supporting our health, our vitality, our relationships, or is it actually draining and taking away from?
00:46:02
Speaker
And to be able to have the awareness of these different parts of ourselves is the key.
00:46:08
Speaker
And that's the mindfulness.
00:46:09
Speaker
Having the mindful awareness around how we're eating, how we're moving, how we're scrolling, how we're exchanging with the world.
00:46:18
Speaker
what we're sharing.
00:46:19
Speaker
You know, I think that what you're talking about is really that, right?
00:46:23
Speaker
And so I think that the more that we can keep coming back to checking in with ourselves, is this supporting my greatest self right now?
00:46:32
Speaker
Or is this taking away from keep checking in, keep checking in, and really noticing how it how we're engaging with it, because you're right, it's not going in.
00:46:40
Speaker
It's just a very big part of our, our world.
00:46:43
Speaker
And so yeah, I think that's, um,
00:46:45
Speaker
What I'm taking away from this conversation is just continued returning to checking in with how this, the platforms and my device in general, not even just social media, but like the attachment to the device, how I'm interacting with it.
00:47:00
Speaker
Love that.
00:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, thank you.
00:47:02
Speaker
Well, it feels kind of weird and kind of icky, but I guess necessary to say, how, with social media, can we find you online?
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, well, there's a lot of different platforms.
00:47:14
Speaker
I mean, this is the tool, right?
00:47:16
Speaker
This is how we use it as a tool.
00:47:17
Speaker
Be connected and share our offerings, especially when the offerings are bringing value.
00:47:22
Speaker
I mean, that's our hope, right?
00:47:23
Speaker
We're bringing value to our unique gifts.
00:47:25
Speaker
Good point.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:28
Speaker
Let me say that again.
00:47:28
Speaker
Let me say it again.
00:47:29
Speaker
Considering everything we've talked about, how can we use this tool?
00:47:34
Speaker
How can we use these things as a tool?
00:47:36
Speaker
And how are we supporting you in using them as a tool?
00:47:39
Speaker
Betsy.
00:47:41
Speaker
Amazing.
00:47:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:47:42
Speaker
I love being able to use our platforms for a tool for connection and sharing inspiration.
00:47:48
Speaker
That is one of my driving.
00:47:49
Speaker
How can I be in service to inspiration and more goodness in the world?
00:47:54
Speaker
And so you can find me on social media, Betsy Who.
00:47:57
Speaker
You can also find me on Insight Timer.
00:48:00
Speaker
It's another platform that I really love getting to share my audio affirmations.
00:48:04
Speaker
It's all free.
00:48:05
Speaker
There's tons of meditations.
00:48:07
Speaker
I specifically focus on mindset reprogramming with affirmations.
00:48:11
Speaker
So find me on Insight Timer.
00:48:13
Speaker
as well as the project that I'm working on called The Power Affirmation, which is a journal and a variety of other tools to really help you to get into a right relationship with your thoughts and train your brain to think in ways that you want to be thinking.
00:48:29
Speaker
Instead of just letting the monkey mind take over, it's a tool to be able to help with a real empowered manifestations of your best life.
00:48:38
Speaker
So you can find my website, poweraffirmation.com.
00:48:41
Speaker
And if you ever want some hands-on body work and healing work, you can find me on my website there too.
00:48:47
Speaker
Look at that.
00:48:49
Speaker
Digital tool and physical connection.
00:48:52
Speaker
The antidote.
00:48:54
Speaker
Betsy.
00:48:55
Speaker
That's more Betsy.
00:48:57
Speaker
Exactly.
00:48:58
Speaker
And you know what?
00:48:59
Speaker
One other thing I will just kind of spark off of something you shared around you guys.
00:49:02
Speaker
If you guys have been listening thus far and you're still listening, I want to let you know I love messages from you guys.
00:49:08
Speaker
I got a message from one of our listeners, Chris, who sent me a voice note that asked a very specific question around my perspective on one of the episodes I shared.
00:49:17
Speaker
And we had a really nice conversation about intention.
00:49:21
Speaker
And so I just want to say, you know, we're human.
00:49:24
Speaker
We're available.
00:49:24
Speaker
Love to chat.
00:49:26
Speaker
Um, if there's anyone out there that wants to reach out, I always love to connect.
00:49:30
Speaker
Indeed.
00:49:31
Speaker
Cool.
00:49:31
Speaker
Well, to, to take advantage of all the goodness that Betsy is offering, there's a, uh, I have just the thing for that, uh, in part, as far as improving mindfulness and just getting your brain in the right space.
00:49:43
Speaker
Um, my company, new world nutritionals, spelled NU world nutritionals.
00:49:48
Speaker
Um, we make nutritional supplements that are mushroom based, that are all designed to
00:49:52
Speaker
help improve and elevate your state of mind helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, even ADHD.
00:50:00
Speaker
And seniors are getting all sorts of assistance with all forms of dementia.
00:50:05
Speaker
It's really my partner likens it to a spa day for your brain.
00:50:08
Speaker
So you want to get your head right to take advantage of other mindfulness practices.
00:50:14
Speaker
This is a great place to start.
00:50:15
Speaker
You can look us up online and social media at newworldnutritionals.com.
00:50:21
Speaker
You can use the code SPARKED for 10% off of all of our products.
00:50:25
Speaker
Awesome.
00:50:26
Speaker
And it is a beautiful tool for increasing neuroplasticity.
00:50:29
Speaker
And so if you are finding yourself trapped in patterns and social media use that you're actively working to change, it can be an awesome tool to help strengthen your resolve in changing your patterns.
00:50:42
Speaker
You can find much of my online tools, and I will try not to make them into distractions, at lifestudent.com.
00:50:53
Speaker
And the two things that I will recommend as I think I'm really proud of how I'm using the social media and the online tools is the morning love broadcast every day at 9 a.m., a gathering and sharing of gratitude and intentions for the day.
00:51:07
Speaker
That happens on YouTube and Facebook.
00:51:09
Speaker
And then also at noon every day, a gratitude circle in Zoom.
00:51:13
Speaker
So these are, I think, ways to use the tools for connection in honest and beautiful ways.
00:51:19
Speaker
I also, you know, as someone who has been navigating these social, technical, digital landscapes for 25 plus years, if you are struggling, I would love to start a conversation and possibly do some one-on-one work and how to find healthy ways for you to coexist in a world that is definitely pulling on us.
00:51:42
Speaker
So also available for one-on-one coaching at lifestudent.com.
00:51:46
Speaker
You can find me.
00:51:48
Speaker
Now, I think the best thing I can think of right now is an affirmation.
00:51:53
Speaker
Is there any way you could help us out with that, Betsy?
00:51:57
Speaker
Of course, especially with a request like that, Halcyon.
00:52:01
Speaker
Yes.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yes, affirmation is always powerful to come back to focusing our minds in the way that we are choosing.
00:52:09
Speaker
And so let's close it out with a simple affirmation is I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:18
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:20
Speaker
So just repeating this one over and over in your mind, letting that affirmation, I live a balanced lifestyle, start to...
00:52:29
Speaker
Soften your shoulders.
00:52:31
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:33
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:37
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:40
Speaker
Remembering that this affirmation can support us in finding balance in our relationship to technology, balance in our relationship to the inner and outer world.
00:52:50
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:53
Speaker
I live a balanced lifestyle.
00:52:55
Speaker
Balance, balance, balance.
00:52:58
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening.
00:53:00
Speaker
Thank you, my Sparky brothers, for getting sparked up today.
00:53:06
Speaker
We hope you guys enjoyed this episode.
00:53:07
Speaker
And please do take a moment to hop on and share a five-star review and a rating.
00:53:15
Speaker
It is super helpful for us to spread the sparks.
00:53:20
Speaker
Stay Sparked, people.
00:53:23
Speaker
Find us on Instagram at Stay Sparked and leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.
00:53:28
Speaker
Thanks so much for helping us spread these sparks.