Does This Annoy You? (It Should.) | WOW11

“I think digitalization, and the smartphone, make us depressed… When we are depressed, we lose our relationship with the world, with the other. We sink into a scattered ego… We need information to be silenced. Otherwise, our brains will explode. Today we perceive the world through information. That’s how we lose the experience of being present. We are increasingly disconnected from the world. We are losing the world…. As a child, I remember holding my mother’s hand at the dentist’s office. Today the mother will not offer the child her hand, but a cellphone. Support does not come from others, but from oneself. That makes us sick. We have to recover the other person.”
- South Korean-born Swiss-German philosopher, Byung-Chul Han

Artwork: Young Girl Reading by Jean Honoré Fragonard (c. 1769)

[Catherine_Longstaff]

Thank you so much for another great episode of this podcast! It’s crazy how much the picture changed just when you swapped the book for a phone.

Two #WOW moments for this week. First, I have started reading a new book series for the first time since before college. With all the academic reading I had done in the past four years, I had forgotten what it was like to fall in love with a story. It’s been really refreshing and I have been so blessed by the experience.

My second relates to my 8th grade TOB class. We were talking about the priesthood and religious life, so I showed them a video of two priests talking about there discernment stories. There was extra time, and so I shared about my cousin, who is a novice. I really felt the movement of the Holy Spirit as I told them about my cousin, who had been like an older sister to me, and about her journey towards discerning religious life. I don’t know what the Holy Spirit did for my students, but I could feel Him working, and it was amazing.

[theautisticcatholic]

I literally downloaded a screen time app on my phone yesterday to help reduce screen time. I'm introverted so talking to strangers in the waiting room at the doctor or the dentist is the last inclination I have. I'll start bringing a sketchbook or a journal to medical and dental appointments so I'm drawing or writing instead of being on my phone while I'm in the waiting room.

At the same time, as an ADHDer, I do need the right amount of stimulation so I do watch history videos and psychology videos sometimes. I love history and psychology so I get the stimulation I need while learning more about subjects I love. I won't watch them at the doctor and the dentist, though.

[sitka]

"There's a beautiful tree at the end of my block which is intoxicating, with its leaves."
But I bet you took a picture of it a posted it social media? I've come to realization there are things I see for myself with no one around ( which's how I like it, I find people self-centered and exhausting ) I don't share/post because its for me.

[thenotoneman]

Maybe I'm the only one that thinks like this, but constantly demonizing technology instead of promoting a healthy usage is more depressing than technology on it self(wich is a neutral thing, not depressing on it self). You know, just use it with moderation, save time for readings, exercising, talking to your friends, etc, and then you are good to go.