Time To Get Off The Pot

Earlier this year the Canadian government announced that marijuana will become legal on Oct 17, 2018. And just this week the Ontario government announced that the sale of marijuana will begin online before finding it’s way to retail outlets sometime next year.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that what was once illegal, and if you had too much of it, criminal, will soon be available to the public for recreational consumption. I’m sure my friend who went to jail for possession of pot back in the 80’s thinks this law is 40 years too late.

Personally I would have been content with decriminalizing the use of cannabis rather than legalizing it, but nobody asked me my opinion.

Whether the legalization of marijuana is important to you or not, I don’t know. But do you want to know something? It may not matter anyway. You may have never smoked weed and never plan to, but you still may be living as if you do.

Let me explain.

The majority of us have a smartphone. They are wonderful devices that can make a huge difference in our daily lives. We can…

• access the internet
• take pictures
• send messages to another person
• check weather
• purchase a ticket to a show
• order takeout
• check sports scores
• communicate with friends and family

Just to name a few.

But there’s a dark side.

Are You Stupid Or What?

Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, studied 1,100 workers at a British company and found that multitasking with electronic media caused a greater decrease in IQ than smoking pot or losing a night’s sleep.

Did you get that?

Multitasking lowers our IQ more than losing a night’s sleep or smoking pot!

Multitasking. The truth is, multitasking is a myth; it can’t be done. But we try. And we most often try with our smartphones and laptops.

For some reason we think we can read, answer email, respond to a text and send a picture all at the same time. Okay, maybe not quite but you get what I mean.

But here’s the thing.

You can’t. I can’t either. And the more we try to do, the less we actually accomplish. And apparently get more stupid.

That Text is Costing You

According to Gloria Mark who studies digital distraction at the University of California, it takes an average of about 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15 seconds, to be exact) to return to the original task after an interruption.

25 minutes!

25 minutes of lost productivity. 25 minutes of going back and starting over. 25 minutes of mediocre work. Every interruption costs us 25 minutes. And whats worse, some studies suggest that in the workplace, we are interrupted every 11 minutes.

Think about it. If we are interrupted every 11 minutes and it takes 25 minutes to fully reengage our work or whatever we were doing before the interruption, what are we actually getting done?

Our phones are sabotaging our productivity and maybe more than that. There are huge physical, emotional, and even relational costs to our overuse of our phones…but more on that in a later post.

For Crying Out Loud Put Your Phone Down 

This past Sunday I watched a bit of the PGA golf championship and when Tiger Woods was putting on the 18th green, almost everyone in the crowd had their phone out. Most of them were holding them over their heads and looking at their phone while Tiger was putting.

Is that nuts or what?

They aren’t even watching the golf. They are watching their phones! I’m pretty sure I yelled out loud…”For crying out loud…put your phones down!”

As Forest Gump famously said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

If You’re Watching Life Through Your Phone, Then You’re Not Really living.

You’re really not. I bet the majority of things you take pictures of or shoot video of, you never see or watch again.

I get it. Our phones have become an important part of our lives; they can add value and be very helpful. Bt they are possibly making us very stupid. According to studies, more stupid than if we smoked pot.

What Can We Do?

I’d like to suggest a few things that may give you back your productivity, sanity and intelligence.

1. Turn off notifications. The only one I use is for texting, and that is primarily for family and a small circle. You don’t really need to know immediately if someone liked your last FaceBook post or Instagram pic do you? It can wait.
2. Limit your texts. Texting should be for important information not conversation. There is probably nothing more distracting than texts beeping on your phone throughout the day.
3. Block off time. Just like we have sleep cycles of about 90 minutes throughout the night, I believe our bodies have 90 minute cycles through the day. Block off 90 minutes at a time to focus on one thing. Keep all notifications off. Close unneeded windows on your computer. Set an alarm if you have to. Then when 90 minutes is up, take a break. Go for a walk…exercise or even grab a cool shower. You’ll get way more done in one or two 90-minute segments than most people do all day. I promise.
4. Set some boundaries. How about leaving your phone in another room during dinner? Put your phone away during a meeting or a date. If your phone is in the open, then you’re not fully present and you might just be communicating to the person across from you, “You’re just not that important.” 
5. Find solitude. Getting away from all forms of technology can be hard, but worth it. Just sit quietly. Read. Pray. It’s the best way to start your day and certainly a worthwhile discipline during the day. Even 10 minutes!
6. Call someone. Ironically, the thing we do the least with our phones is call someone. Instead of text messaging, call. If you have a problem you need to work out…call. If you want to catch up with someone…call. Want to encourage someone…call. I know it’s a crazy idea.

I don’t know what your reaction to the new legislation is…and frankly it doesn’t really matter. What really matters is are you living as if you are on drugs already.

If your phone has taken over your life, then you probably are. Let’s be smart…not stupid. Shut it off…put it away. Live your life!

Feeling stuck? Not sure what to do next? Your life not where you want it to be? Life coaching can help. Contact me to arrange a free 45-minute discovery call. Let’s talk.