Our attention span is now shorter than goldfish!

Thanks to our addiction to our smartphones, our attention span is said to now be less than that of a goldfish! Theirs is 9 second, and ours is 8 and dropping. …So if you are still reading this – well done! You are bucking the trend.

I love my smartphone too. It’s super useful, especially when I’m traveling, where I find it amazing for navigation foreign cities, and keeping up with emails and friends.
It seems, however, to be highjacking our lives!
We now jump on and off our smartphones on average every 6 minutes, for a total of 4 hours a day. This really stresses our bodies.

Have you noticed when you walk down a street in a city how many people almost bump into you since they are so engrossed with their phone?
How almost no one meets your eye?
We seem glued to our phones as we walk, over meals, with many of us constantly check them, even out with friends.

A recent survey found that the average person checks their phone 150 times per day. It has become the thing we do if we have a quiet moment, any time we are waiting, or feelings of boredom, loneliness or frustration start to surface. It is easier now to no longer just sit with them, instead we pull out our phones and distract ourselves in the virtual world. We scroll. We click. And we are missing the ‘real’ world around us.

I’m writing on this topic today because Syreeta, a Private Intensive client of mine, noticed that if she was waiting for something, or felt a little lost, she too would whip out her phone. So she asked if I could share something on how to have a healthy relationship with your smartphone.

Why is there a problem?
Smartphones apps lure us to keep jumping between things with endless notifications of new posts, news, likes and comments. In just a few years they have radically changed how we relate to the people around us, and to our world.

Some problems are:
• Smartphones overstimulate you, and this leaves your body feeling stressed. When you are on and off it over the day your adrenals can end up in fight or flight mode. This is exhausting for your body!

• They can easily distract you so that you can find yourself being late for the rest of your ‘off phone’ life.

• The biggest issue? – If you fill all your slow moments by being on your smartphone, then you end up missing the mystery and creativity waiting in these seemingly empty moments. For unlikely as it seems, slow time creates space for your creativity, your daydreams and your inspiration. They come when you are just hanging out, doing nothing. Yes, boredom is where your ideas and inspiration come from.

Just waiting. Being open to the unknown. The unpredictable. Surprising adventures. New connections. Mysteries. Pleasures. These come when you are open to unexpected, they can’t arrive when you are engrossed on a screen.

The digital world tries to give you answers fast, but instead why not just hang out doing nothing, observing the world around you, and see what comes.
Life is all about balance, so these trying these three steps should help you.

3 steps to a healthy friendship with your smartphone –

1. When eating – Turn your phone onto airplane mode, whether on your own or with friends, and put it out of sight (yes they can still grab your attention when they are on the table). It may feel like you are cut off from the world at first, but you will enjoy your meal and friends more.

2. Benefits of boredom – Give yourself a few 5 min ‘creative boredom breaks’ a day, where you put your phone away and just do nothing – space out, watch clouds, daydream. This time is key to relax and for new ideas.

3. Sleep well – Always have your phone on airplane mode when you sleep so its radiation doesn’t interrupt your sleep and stress your body.

Try these three steps today and see how you feel…

You should find your attention expanding beyond even wise goldfish, as you feel more relaxed, less hurried, sleeping better and enjoying more slow-time for connecting face to face with friends, and with space for dreams and new ideas.

Do add your thoughts below, plus any great ways you use to keep a healthy relationship with your smartphone – so we can all try them. And feel free to Share this with a friend you think may enjoy it.

P.S Is there a topic that you would be interested to for me to share something on in a vlog? …..If so, just add it below, or message it to me and I’ll include it. I would love to hear your suggestions! (I could even film it in Bali and Australia for you this winter.)