Devices of Distraction.

Clicking away.

Flick left or right.

Scroll the bottomless social media stream.

The prehistoric caveman used tools in an effort to survive and shape the environment around him.

Today's tools are technical in nature and are frequently used devices of distraction.

The TV, game console or mobile become tools to assist the escape.

I am one for using tools to automate, make things easier to work with and leverage time but a hammer was never built to do the work of a spade.

You will never get the quality of your mental health to a clear, focused, energized, creative, upbeat, and positive state simply with these devices.

Likewise, the distraction you engage in from the social media vortex to binge-watching Netflix or simply overworking on those devices is fuelling the negative mentality or frustration spiral you may feel trapped in.

Facebook, for example, is literally programmed to be addictive.

It makes your brain get hits of dopamine (feel-good hormones, enough of these rewards you and then this behaviour becomes addictive) everytime you use it.

A phone encompassing all-in-one is now the latest appendage to the human body so much so that stepping away from the phone for only a few hours can cause anxiety.

It's also the only appliance to follow you into the bathroom, car, walking, oh and don't forget when you sleep!

These devices are not primarily designed for the betterment of your mental health they are designed to be addictive.

You must always ask yourself the question: Are you using technology or is technology using you?

Start engaging in the practice of turning off your phone and leaving it at home from time to time.

Give yourself several hours a day where it's not within arms reach.

You must give yourself room to think, to read, to grow as a human and not be controlled by what the companies, brands, or leaders tell you to do. 

With an even closer connected world, we have never been so alone.

Mental health problems are on the rise, not the decline.

However, devices are not the problem.

Distraction is also a symptom, not the cause.

"The mentally healthy individual is he who habitually calls upon fairly deep levels of vital reserves. An individual whose mind is allowed to become dormant - so that only the surface is disturbed - begins to suffer from 'circulation problems.' Neurosis is the feeling of being cut off from your own powers." Colin Wilson, New Pathways in Psychology.

You can't call on those reserves when you're at the beckoned call of everyone else's agenda. 

If you are suffering from circulation problems perhaps a new approach needs to be deployed.

One of full action, wholehearted commitment into your work, your idea, your creative energy.

A device is there to serve you not for you to be mastered by the device.

Vaughan.