Ayisha Qureshi

It was a Wednesday and I looked forward to a light but productive day at work as I entered my office. I followed my routine: had my glass of water, set up my laptop, took a look at the schedule ahead and then PANICKED!!!

In routine (I hadn’t even realized that I did it every day!), the first ‘task’ that I do once I sit in my office is to go through my mobile. I had been working too hard trying NOT to turn my mobile on in the wee hours of the morning/ as soon as I get up that I did not even realize it was the first thing I was doing when I reached work.

The result is that checking my mobile for notifications/ messages has become the first thing I did when I physically reach work. Nothing wrong with that- most of you will say. Well, I beg to disagree, considering that checking the notifications actually drags me into the world of social media, reminders, updates and spam messages regarding sales and discounts. This usually eats up a good half an hour of my time.

That day I learned a few things about my dependency on mobile and the effects that dependency had on my work ethics, my stress level and even my personality:

1. The physical absence of the mobile in my hand as I went from meeting to meeting was unnerving and unsettling, to put it mildly. I clenched and unclenched my right hand wandering what was missing and realized half way through the day that the mobile was, in fact, a physical extension of my limb!
2. From the moment I check my phone in the morning (5.30 am at home when I wake up or 8.15 am when I reach work), any plans I had to be proactive and productive go down the drain. The mobile, like an alien, takes over my mind and my day. .
3. I am trying to see what the real problem is: of course, the mobile helps me stay in touch with my family and people I love and care for but it also makes me available to a lot people who don’t particularly care for me or vice versa. How? Well, all social media send me updates and notifications regarding what many people are doing, or thinking or eating…..pretty distracting, not to mention, totally useless. My reading up on their daily log is actually making me available to them as I give up my time to them and they control my day now.
4. Many times, the notifications and updates that I read determine my thoughts, which effect my emotions, which affect my mood, which effect my day and I would go as far as to say, my destiny. I know, I know, a little heavy but let me give you an example. So you open your Instagram feed while you have breakfast. No harm done. You come across your friend from your last workplace whom you have not met in 10 years. She is vacationing in Europe, with family, in the middle of November. NOVEMBER!!? Really! And then your monkey brain takes over: who has the time to go for vacation in November? Don’t her kids have school? How many kids did she have? Europe is so expensive? How can she afford it? I need a vacation!! When was the last time I went for vacation? I am never going to be able to afford one? And no one cares!! And with this mind set you get up, shout at the kids, get into an argument with your husband (he is the ‘no one’ you were referring to!!) and get to work determined to get back at the foul world for not giving you a break. Maybe you are strong and your mind never wanders without your permission (yeah, Right!!) but more times than not, the trigger from a notification, an update or a benign message sets you off on the wrong course and an entire day is lost.
5. What about notifications for sales and discounts? I realized that half the time when I have planned to reads or write in the evening, the moment I get spammed with a sale or discount message, I redo my plans for the evening. Now my entire evening is off on another trajectory. Did I need the things I am making time for? NOPE. Do I have the money for it? Who cares? I will just go and have a look….said a female Never!
6. One thing that I truly understood was how the phone, with its WIFI on, distracted me and affected my tempo at tasks that required focus and concentration. Every time I heard the message tone, I left my task, turned my attention to the phone, read the message, reacted to it, whether physically or mentally or just made a note, and then turned back to the task at hand. It took me at least 15 minutes to get my head back into my work again.
7. I accomplished a lot that wonderful day 🙂 I did real work. I finally got a taste of the life that my parents lived before our day, before the mobiles and the internet.
8. My restlessness during the first half of the day bordered on persistent anxiety. I calmed down after that. I thought I wasn’t too addicted to my phone- I guess I was wrong.
9. The only time I thought it was truly a useful device was when I wanted to check up on my children reaching home- I let it go and forced myself to relax. I had to remind myself that there was a life before everyone was in touch with everyone every minute of every day.
10. I did not, even for a minute miss all the apps that I had downloaded to stay organized, motivated or stimulated. My mind was listening to me for a change and following instructions as well.

My advice to you is to try turning off your mobile a few times a day…..your reaction will determine how addicted you are to it. Go on… turn it off…I dare you!!