My instant technology gratification addiction

It's the last day of April and I need to get at least ONE post in during this month.

 

I must admit that I'm addicted to my phone. I'm on almost all the time to the detriment of doing other things that I should be doing, like yard work, reading books, listening to music, and writing in this blog.

 

There was a time not too long ago when I didn't have a computer, I certainly didn't have a small flat pocket-sized electronic rectangle with a screen that contains much of the world's information in one convenient place. I lived a perfectly fine existence.

 

As much as I enjoy my Droid Razr, I feel addicted to it to almost an unhealthy degree. And the more I use it, the emptier I feel in some ways. I don't find it to be too fulfilling, yet I am almost endlessly compelled to "see what's happening on Facebook" or surf the net on my little black electronic rectangle. It's not far removed from a drug addiction. It's an "instant technology gratification" addiction that never really leaves me very gratified.

 

Now, that's not to say my phone is completely useless and nothing more than an addictive, expensive toy. I do have a great MapMyRun GPS app that I use when running and it's probably the best thing on my phone.  Still, I spend way too much time checking Facebook, somehow expecting it to entertain or enlighten me more, but more often than not it just leaves me bored or irritated.

 

If all this instant technology, 24-hour social networking junk just disappeared, it would be okay (I say as I type this blog post from my phone--what a fucking hypocrite I am). Maybe I'd go through a week of withdrawal in which I'd be impulsively reaching for a smartphone that wasn't there, but eventually I'd go back to the days where I actually picked up a book more than 30 minutes a week.