The Problem With Our Phones
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2017
- They are hugely useful of course but in many ways, we buy the advantages our phones give us at a subtly high price we don’t entirely recognise. Some reflections on how to live well around phones.
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FURTHER READING
“The dark truth is that it’s become very hard to find anyone (and certainly anything) more interesting than one’s smartphone. This perplexing and troubling realisation has for most of us had huge consequences for our love stories, family lives, work, leisure time and health. There is almost no relationship in which the presence of the phone has not had a profound impact. The genuine beauty and interest of our phones wouldn’t be a matter of such concern if we didn’t suspect, somewhere in our minds, that this machine has both opened some doors and is in danger of grievously closing others. This essay knows we love our phones and would never want us to give them up, but it is also gently aware that these delightful gadgets bear a hidden cost. This is a text that aims to bring a little sanity to our closest, most intense and possibly most danger-laden technological relationship…”
You can read more on this and other subjects here: goo.gl/PukLgZ
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Produced in collaboration with:
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Good thing I'm watching on my tablet instead
SylenDraws I'm watching it in my Ipad lol.
SylenDraws 😂😂
Very primitive..
(see what I did there?)
Drowning in the shallows!
PC
"Remember you are made of dust and will be dust again" *sets phone wallpaper*
The only way to combat relapse is to be constantly stimulated - I read a paragraph of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations every day and ponder on it.
PartiZAn18 you mean like replacing one addiction with another?
I'd say it's perhaps more of a habit - I don't "crave" reading Meditations, I do it to remind and inspire me to be mindful during the day and to resist base temptations.
Compared this to how I used to be *addicted* to smoking a pack of cigarettes and drinking 3 litres of beer every night to pass out - if I didn't have those "distractions" to make me numb I felt like I was going mad...
So whether reading, and trying to practice Stoic philosophy is a habit or addiction is debatable, my point is that the distinction is a moot one, if one is actively trying to be a better person.
And finally, I leave you with a quote from Aurelius in respect of the above: "Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one"
Claire Dim Ashes to ashes
Same but then found out it was from the Bible and changed my mind
I use my phone to distract myself from my ongoing anxiety. And from being alone with myself. Sometimes I think being addicted to the phone as well as any other gadget is quite similar in its roots to being addicted to alcohol, drugs etc. Avoidance of suffering.
Yuliia Litvinchuk i do this, when you use your phone distract yourself from an actual mental disorder, its a vicious cycle
"We do not avoid evil by hurry-skurry and fleetness in extenso,1 but by rising above or diving below its plane. As the worm escapes drought and frost, by boring a few inches deeper, but the grasshopper is overtaken and destroyed - By our suppleness and speed we only fly before an evil, by the height or depth of our characters we avoid it."
That is a shame. The feeling of isolation and the exploration of the inner space with which it demands is a wonderful part of being human. Is it a fear of being alone, or are you looking for acceptance through image representation to and from others? This is an honest question and I mean no disrespect or malice.
I do the same thing, gets the anxiety away
What if I tell you that addicfion to Phone causes anxiety in the first place.
Trt Not to check your Phone for an entire Day.
The argument regarding phones being distractions from the self that prevent us from being able to consider, analyze, and resolve our anxieties is interesting. My question is, what if our anxieties can not fully be resolved and removed from the self? What if sitting with our negative thoughts only serves to reinforce them? It seems everything we do in life, whether it be hanging out with friends, family, and lovers, watching TV, working long hours, drinking alcohol etc. all serve to fill our time and energy and distract us from thinking about the mere futility of the fact that we will all soon return to dust. And so how can we be selective and say that cell phones are the primary culprit of our distraction?
Pursuit of Wonder I agree. If we didn't have cell phones or even the internet, there would always be something to distract us. I guess phones get a bad reputation because it makes us "antisocial" and distracts us from ourselves by ourselves, while some of the other distractions have connections to other people.
True, but while I used to have so many creative thoughts, spend a lot of time writing poetry etc etc, now I find that I am a lot less creative and a lot more absorbed in Internet, messaging, social media etc.
That is a very good point. It is still interesting though that there is a divide in what is considered good or healthy based on the fact that one is in conducted alone verses with other people.
I think the point loosely trying to be made in the video is that all of these things (phones only being one of them) are hyper-stimulating our minds and as a result, numbing them.
To sit alone and just look at the sky or meditate is the opposite (low stimulation) which can re-sensitize our attention and allow us to be more present.
It comes down to yin and yang, whereas we as a collective society are attempting to binge yang
Nick Leonardi resensitisation makes so much sense. I feel like a zombie many days.
Giving up my phone for 3hrs a week has helped create a lot of difference, especially with being calm and more open. No one is saying let go of tech, just do a small change, it'll come a long way.
Matt I do that during school all the time..
You don't use your phone for 3hrs a week and that is some sort of accomplishment? God save us all.
My job relies heavily on my phone, so for me, it is of some sorts. How much time do you spend on your phone, daily?
I use my phone an hour a day max cumulatively. I glance at it to check for notifications ever so often. Surely your job does not require a constant connection to your phone? What is it that you work?
Mezien Benmaamar wow just an hour, that's something i don't usually see around me :) I work in sales, so it's mostly emails and follow-ups. The problem with that though is that even though u unlock to read an email u end up wondering onto other app distractions.
I hate my phone; yet feel naked without it
Bulba Tube
Then sell it.
Bulba Tube I LOVE YOU 💙💙💙💙💙😍😍💙😍😍😍😍💙💙💙💙💙💙💙😍😍😍😍😍😍
My body? or my phone? :P
I subbed you
guess who just won the nude-asking game ?
the problem with our phones is that we use our phones as destractions rather than a tool
Distraction is the tool, thats what the whole video is about fool.
wolven moonstone as intended
wolven moonstone the problem for me is that I use it as both. I’m addicted to my phone because it distracts me from my painful reality but also because it learns me so much about the world.
The phones are smart so that we wouldn't have to be.
@@mikitz the phone isnt smart. It only does what we want it to do. Everything that we let it do, we give away in our own mental state.
"We need to spend time with our own worries to understand them rather than to suffer the anxiety they create"
"We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
Thanh Thúy nicely done 👌
"what you believe you become"
Thanh Thúy no no no, I am not checking in at your hotel, bye bye
bool IsRebooting an intellectual :>
sanjanaa but you have no choice but to live the truth.
Who else is ironically watching this video with the phone ?
So what ? After knowing the problem can't u reduce screen time ... Now that's the solution.
@jon jones the school of life be like: I used the phones to destroy the phones.
PC user here LMAO
No I'm watching this video in nearby theatre in IMAX
These animations are so spot on and I love that this message isn’t simply “phones are bad,” rather this video made me reflect on my habits and thoughts that I tend to ignore. Thank you for such incredible and MEANINGFUL content.
I'm watching this video on my phone 📱
Your phone 📱 is showing this video to its human pet 👩.
Who is watching this video on their phone right now?
I honestly rarely ever use my computer anymore.
Jackeline Morales our phone are computers.
Dysania Yes, they are. Though I was referring to "traditional" computers, like PCs and laptops.
i only use my pc phones are slow and sloopy
meeee
So should i use my pc instead??
>.
Avid Yes, because you're pc is not everywhere to go, that would actually help a lot combat the problems put forward by the video
Fair point, I watched this on my PC cause I don't have a smartphone. I just have an old regular mobile phone that I almost never use because there i nobody to call and nobody calls me.
One chooses to take his phone with him.
ProtonCannon thats sad
School of life, thank you for everything you have done and created,. You have always been there when I've needed a wise word in understanding my own self and actions. Thankyou.
Love this channel and all the videos you guys do. I really appreciate the animations as well.
I feel like one day humanity will just be people hooked up to a super computers who's only purpose is to please us
Sounds perfect to me. I'll be among the first to be hooked up to the simulation. But then again, I go by Camus Absurdism so its easy for me.
Thats not exactly what todays computers does?
CZcams "Lorn - Anvil"
czcams.com/video/_xToQ4cIHkk/video.html
SylenDraws i
I'm so aware of the hold my phone has on me. I consciously put it down sometimes because of this. Yet I'm not giving it up.
Jahdé
Same. It’s so taxing and draining to have to use your phone, even when you don’t want to. It’s time to stop, and that begins now:)
this was the best video/topic on this channel so far. I've had already grasped this thought on the past few months, but this sums it up perfectly.
Love love love this video.
Being with your phone is constant and unsatisfying.
Being with your thoughts is difficult.
After i finished this video i instantly put down my phone and picked up the closest book
We don't need more advanced phones. We just need to use them wisely. Capitalism doesn't lead to utopia, it leads to a dystopia with people having a goal of life consume, to buy things. We are not the things we've got. We are the things we do.
I suppose there could be a reformation of socialism/communism, for the better, or something like that.
So you do not buy things, own nothing?
soslothful I only buy things when I need them. For example I don't own a tv. I never go shopping when I don't need something. If I need anything, I'll order just that. We've mixed up the word "need" with the word "want". What I'm trying to say is, we can live perfectly happy without all these products we think we need, when in reality we don't. We don't need 30 t-shirts or 10 pairs of shoes.
You are so right! Capitalism tells us that we need material items to find happiness, yet capitalism is also destroying the earth and humanity, the two most important things.
YES you are right! Our actions are our only true possessions! :)
I needed this currently. I've been feeling so attached (both literally and figuratively) to my phone recently, I'm trying to disconnect a little more but still feel myself wanting to reach out. This made me feel a lot better about it all, thank you.
I don't have problems with my phone because i am naturally allergic to them
I just have this natural hostility toward the device
Computers on the other hand bring me much joy
Same😎
I have been living without a smartphone for the last 6 months (I am 18 years old, UK student). Very refreshing and eye-opening experience. What strikes me most is the way a group of people will all simultaneously stop talking and stare at their screens for a while without noticing this anti-social habit. The phone, while it may be good, inhibits genuine human interactions and creates a bizarre social dynamic where appearance is everything and we cannot analyse the problems we have because we are not thinking about the things around us, but looking at the screen. By the way - As you can see I'm not totally free of technology, I still have a laptop (and frankly, there isn't much difference between myself and everyone else, as I too am writing this comment, which no one will read, on a screen. The irony is not lost on me.
I'm a phone addict, I want to restrict myself
you are the one who can control yourself. i think your phone is stopping from doing that. practise meditation
Take baby steps. Set small goals. Tell someone and ask them to keep you accountable. Track your progress. You can do it!
Give it to me:problem solved lol
Katotto Productions where are you?
I have waited for someone to say this. Thanks. I appreciate the little audio ques and the Video itself!
ok, i love the message. but can i just prasie the animation for a second! incredibly and interestingly done! quite captivating. simple, yet very detailed and well done.
I don't use my phone to avoid myself, I use my phone to avoid other people.
Funny, considering the point of a phone is the complete opposite. :P
I'd love it if phones in the future became something like a customized life coach. After all, they already know everything about us.
Can't tell if black mirror-esque sarcasm or just general ignorance.
that's more like dystopia
be more chill did it
How about finding one made out of flesh and bones, or should i say, dust? Also called a lover.
!!!
truly amazing content!! keep up the good work. such a good reminder of what really matters.
I have been working on trying to stay away from my phone for useless things and trying to focus and be more productive. Self-awareness and being present are two of the most crucial elements of humanity that we need to start practising once again. Btw, this is quite possibly one of the most wonderful videos I've watched and the writing is remarkable!!
They don''t keep a charge for more than 2 hours. Thats the problem with our phones.
Darkness Prevails iphones*
Darkness Prevails My MotoZplay lasts 8-10hrs over 2 days off Charger.
Darkness Prevails your phone is fucked then
My phone's at 50% after two days. You really need an upgrade if you can't leave the house for longer than 2 hours without your phone dying.
Darkness Prevails mine lasts all day
Before phones it was magazines and newspapers. People will always look for things to occupy are minds. It isn't a phone problem it's a human problem.
Replace magazines and newspapers with TVs.
Humanity is retarded
Thank you for this great videos. God Bless.
I needed this. Thank you
I should've seen this vid two days ago so I didn't bring my phone to school that day & maybe it could've been saved from school confiscation damnit how can I survive a month without a phone...
p.s. im using my laptop but its not the sameee
Love this! I don't own a touchphone and (hopefully) can avoid possessing one (or having it possess me!)
Nice one!!! the most fulfilled period of my day in my car or on the bus, that's the moment I'm thinking and talking to myself
one of the best ones yet, thanks so much!
oh the irony. I meditate to focus on myself and to to turn off all the fuzz. But then again even for such a task then phone is either the timer or it plays a guided meditation video. do we actually have power over technology or is technology having the power over us?
“But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
and
Candy Crush is none of those things.
love you guys thank you so much your films make me feel that I am not alone thinking in such a similar way
Your way of presentation and impact of your content is just 101/100 i.e. perfect!!!!!!
Everyone always complains that we spend a shit load of time on our phones, but what exactly do we do with that time? Mostly reading news articles, interacting with each other on social media, taking pictures, etc. A phone is nothing more than an technologically-advanced Swiss Army Knife.
Not evil, not good, just a tool.
Well, I'll steal this from the master minimalist: "What if we didn't?" What would happen to us, if we didn't read that news article, did not interact with others on social media, did not take pictures (all the time)?? ...
@@silkegehtyoutubegarnichtsa892 You know, I honestly feel more this way now than I did 2 years ago when I made that comment...
Sound of vibrating phone makes me want to smash my head. i hate it really
Try the "off" setting.
@white That would work I suppose.
Its like an anxiety trigger
@@sayuj2052 exposure therapy......expose yourself to the sound gradually..
Wow. Some great points really well communicated. Lots to reflect on!
I try to forget my phone at home once in a while. Very nice message.
I was trying to cure my social media addiction but coronavirus situation made it almost impossible. I deactivated Facebook, I have secret Twitter account that I use just read stuff, I deactivated Instagram app and I login to it one a month. But it's been incredibly hard. I don't have many friends in this country and with thos situation it's impossible to make friends in live. When I am alone at work (I am literally alone in whole building) I play CZcams videos just to have some human connection.
I'm alone too, but I'm extremely obsessive of porn.
FINALLY! YES
Brilliant and inspiring as always . Thank you.
Just brilliant. Thank you for this insight.
I'm not addicted to my phone, I'm addicted to learning about life from this wonderful channel of yours!
On your phone?
maybe
The irony
S R ｙｅａｈ
That was amazing thanks a lot for the cool explaining..💚
Amazing as always!!
Lol I use my phone. I don't suffer from any of this at all. Hahaha.
1. I don't have alerts to anything except Twitter and CZcams of which I only subscribe to things of science, technology and futurists. Insta and FB I use on the comp and only check up about 3 important people.
2. I don't have 30 friends that I talk too daily, I have one good friend that I talk too once or twice a week.
3. I don't take pictures of my food and I don't take pictures of my self. (selfies).
4. I have a red light filter on ALL THE TIME!!!
STOP DESTROYING YOUR DOPAMINE CIRCUITS PEOPLE.
Abdul H Same
How many times did you check this comment on CZcams? 15 likes eh? Pretty impressive. Dopamine is everywhere.
love you
Great message 💕
How to determine if an iPhone or Android is NEW, REFURBISHED, REPLACED or PERSONALIZED: czcams.com/video/IAt0TWB7uvg/video.html
3:52 I bet you my life you didn't notice that double "and" in the translation. 😏
there isn't any nature around us anymore to look at...... thats more depressing than the phone. if i lived in a nice green and sunny environment with lots of trees i would definitely not use my phone as much
Your voice is so soothing
This was a beautiful video. Honestly, the animations and the writing are both brilliant in their own ways. I feel like the animator and writer/speaker are two (or three!) different people, because there is a different "voice" to each of them. Does that make sense?
Lol! Yes. I sat down to eat my breakfast and I thought against mindlessly picking up my phone while eating. ....then I felt it was too quiet and did it anyway...this was the first thing I watched. I thought, "dammit! You knew you had the right idea!" Lol, thank you school of life for the reminders 😉💜
superflysquirrel awareness! Woo
"we need to spend time with our worrys to understend them rather than suffering from the anxiety they create 👆"
My English book recommended this video to me with a QR CODE so for you to answer the questions you should watch this video, I loved it, it explained a lot! First video that my English book tells me to. And I like it, congratulations, a great video! Lol I really loved it.🌷❤
This is so true. We all have to have the latest and greatest phone available. But said phone will never bring as much satisfaction,as seeing a family member or friend.
I would argue that it doesn't HAVE to be these things. I think that I am less a slave to my phone than ever. I think that it takes work to become that but I was just in europe for 2 weeks. I barely took any photographs. I let myself experience it all. I used it for maps but tried to keep my head up and ask people for directions. I reached out to people at home to let them know I was okay, but not to check how their last meal tasted. I think it goes back to "love people, use things. Don't mix them up."
Smartphones also give people a reason not to physically interact with other humans. Next time you go out in public--just an ordinary crowd on the street where there's no focal point, eg, no band, no sporting event, etc. A person not attached to their smartphone encountering "another" person not attached to their smartphone is most likely to feel uncomfortable or awkward. I see this all the time. A smartphone has become a security blanket. Without it, people display antisocial behavior
I see it as the other way around. People addicted to their smartphones show antisocial behaviour that would not have been accepted twenty years ago but is now the norm.
Incisive truths conveyed with humour; my first experience of The School of Life but now subscribed!
thank you for this video, it served me as a reminder.
4:57 was a bit creepy...
...a bit??? Lol
Don't even have a phone while watching this I'm using my mind so who really wins 😎😎😎
luiOef then how are you using emojies ?
😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎 i got abortioned 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
I'm impressed. Good advice
Some of the best animation/art style I've seen on this channel
Watched this on my phone
I am just a cave man holding a phone..
Thank you. I believe that many people have the good intention to do so but don't know the tools to solve this issue or have the motivation to do so.
How are these made? What software? I love these animations so much.
speak for yourself. I use a phone but also sometimes sit in my room and think. it's getting tiresome all this criticism directed at phones. Phones are not what we use, they are a tool for accessing, producing and manipulating information. if some lack control regarding their use, it would be some other dumb thing that same person would be doing without a phone.
It's great that you are able to control yourself, but the reality is that most people aren't like that. Phones can be addictive and just like any other drug, some people can control themselves while others fall into its grasp.
Tom Brophy good point. let me point out that you meant to write, just like any other addiction (drugs are quite different but drug addiction is not entirely a non-social issue). czcams.com/video/ao8L-0nSYzg/video.html The level of media and communication addiction made possible by highly portable computers is what we are talking about.
Tom Brophy About that media & communication addiction: it's more obviously a social issue. to liken it back again to drug addiction, do we devalue and hold responsible the intravenous needle or pipe?
Daniel L. Lombardo I see what you mean, and I completely agree. I think when a lot of us are talking about the consequences of phone addiction, it's the way that we use them and the frequency of which we are encouraged to use them that is the problem. Society encourages phone addiction because they have become a necessity in everyday life. I thinks it's those necessities that open the door for us and then it is the addictive nature of social media apps and whatnot that reel us in and keep us tied down and eventually addicted.
Tom Brophy I see, that makes a lot of sense, however, I'm going to continue admiring the information super powers in my hand and proceed in making the devices do the work of improving my social, academic, logistical, artistic, dialectic and other capabilities - too many to mention!
like you
Listening to this on an iPad Pro on a memory phone mattress was trippy.... I swear that vibrate noise in the beginning both made me feel and hear my phone vibrating....even though it's not...and even as I relisten there's some small doubts as to whether it's my phone or iPad.
I learned n learning from this school of life which is not found in my school r more than my education from this amazing videos
People cannot go to poop without their phones. Thats where the problem starts. On some level, each of us knows the problem with phones, but no one has a solution. Because phones are such an integral part of who we are now. Like if you can relate to this.
We also make animated health videos on our channel. Do check it out if you get a chance.
Absolutely true. Phones have ruined us. They say phones have got us closer. But have they. really?
i keep my phone in a different room. use it like a landline and you will be the happiest person
Nice channel. I subscribed. Its always nice to see good content.
"If your urine is yellow, that means your cells are shrinking."
How can I take anything you say seriously after such a vague and just incorrect statement in your intro video already?
+ Zack Its super weird. And super unhygienic. But its true.
That's why i don't have a phone already 5 years.
Congratulations :- ) Personally I think the most valuable thing on earth is silence...
Antonio Golubovic wow I bet you're very intelligent
No i'm just poor AF.
Antonio Golubovic This means your previous statement was a lie.
Or this 1 was , i was sarcastic, truth is i don't have phone but reason is not that i do not want to waste time on it but i prefer not being depended on it.
I'm in Florida and just had hurricane Irma pass over us. I been without internet for about 4 to 5 days and it has been of my worst days in many recent years. I've come to realize how much I'm attached to this device.
You guys are great!
Ok boomer
I had a track phone sophomore year and junior year of high school. At first I was pretty upset my parents decided to get me a track phone especially when I use to have top of the line smartphones. I had to buy minutes (meaning limited texting) and no instagram, no twitter, no music and no youtube (tetris costed minutes). It was somewhat hard for me because I was bored out if my mind. I tried to converse with people but that is when I realized that everybody else were on their phone and didn’t want to talk. That’s is when I took upon myself to find tangible hobbies like painting, running, learning guitar and bettering myself emotionally. I was in touch with reality and my present self like never before. Now I have a smartphone again and I am finishing up my senior year of high school. I now have limits to how much time I spend on my phone and do not have many social media accounts except for youtube and netflix. It changed my life and I totally recommend that anyone who thinks they have a phone addiction to try out either a track phone or a really outdated phone without all the fancy features. It helps!
Amazing content, as usual.
🙂🥂
love me
ok...but not because you told me to!
Please come back where ever you are
Starting to love latin thanks to School of Life. Thanks, guys!!!
1:10 - Scary how this described my current problem at the moment.
I'm 18 and still don't fuckin have a phone
Parenting done right
Maybe your parents will buy you one when you improve your basic writing skills/.
like me
Morning sarks, I think it’s my phone it wouldn’t let me log in or anything, loved my little drive by yesterday could barely see ya but knowing ya were there was a treat😘😘😘
great job guys i hope people start taking this seriously
m e m e n t o m o r i
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