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On the 24th of February, my phone stopped charging and I was forced to concentrate on work for the first time in a while. Ultimately I have felt so much calmness from my work that it's leading me to question if having a phone all the time is a good idea and if my smartphone might be robbing me of some form of essence.

While writing this post, I’m on the second lap of my 48-hour shift and I just explained to my colleague this exact feeling. I have had to use her phone all through the shift and that was the only inconvenience, well that and the fact that I was trapped with my thoughts.

Can you even call that an inconvenience? Thinking about what’s quite literally in front of me to the point where I have to do something about it. What was in front of me?

All that came with caring for my patients and fixing my phone.

Sure there were moments that were boring but what’s wrong with that? The most interesting thing I could do was my work and after that I’d fall back into the boredom of simply observing.

Humans in our natural state were probably super bored. The prehistoric human was probably only preoccupied with what was right in front of him. So busy with that they came up with skyscrapers, aircraft, telephones and computers that we could fit in our pockets.

You have to be bored to be that inspired. I think we have become so deep in the consumption of what these great humans have made that we have forgotten that creation in a way…makes us.

Creation make us human but in order to create, you have to be heavily inspired and the inspiration has to come from a place of want or need to fix what’s right in front of you.

Consequences of a Non-creative Existence

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We are currently seeing the consequences of being this heavily disturbed in society today. I also think we are paying existentially for this. How is it that our focus on our phones somehow has led to a new mental health crisis?

Several studies have been conducted that prove that there is a strong correlation between our mental decline and phone use. Some were even metanalysis (studies of studies) that gave proof to this.

Of these, the study done in the Middle East by health professionals shows its effect on the adult population .

The study included 400 participants around 25 years and it compared physical and mental health variables among Low cell phone users and High cell phone users. Among these variables were neck pain, weight gain, back pain, depression, loneliness and mood disorders.

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HCPU= High Cell Phone Use, LCPU= Low Cell Phone Use

Overall, it can be seen that the group that reports the highest level of depression are those with a high level of phone use.

The largest group are those who said that they experienced high depression levels which might just be telling of the society we living in in today, or it might be due to the fact that reporting low cell phone use does not spare you from the effects of modern-day distraction.

There was almost a 50% divide between those who had low and high depression levels and used their phones less but for those who used their phones very often more than three-fourths of them were experiencing high depression levels.

The reason I think there is an almost 50-50 divide among those who are low in phone is because there may or may not be another distraction or some may think they are low on phone use but in actuality they are also high phone users…but what do I really know? It’s all just speculation. what matters is the strong correlation seen in those who are depressed.

Back to creativity

The day is almost over, I’m almost done with the post. I’ve seen quite a number of patients and I’m at almost 600 words right now. Sometimes I forget that my phone has a problem and I need to fix it the day after.

It is usually when I’m so busy that the only thing important to me is what’s in front of me. I want to stay this productive.

Yesterday, I made a spreadsheet for my calories and my fiance. I started entertaining the thoughts of making my Nigerian Calorie-counting app again. If I can make the spreadsheet work maybe there could be a way to help people meet their caloric requirements.

I miss my phone but I’m not focused on that. I’m more focused on myself and what I can do. I’m starting to believe in new possibilities. That is what it is like getting back to creativity.

I don’t know how long it will last but I would like to see it for myself too.

The way it typically goes for me is that I find something new and exciting like this every month…it works for a while then it doesn’t and I fall flat on my face wondering where I got things wrong. This time, I want to make safety checks and see how it works.

Do you see yourself lacking so much peace? Don’t you think it’s time you unplugged and see what would happen? What is the worst that could happen?

While I was organizing my thoughts for this post, I remembered that my current job is partly due to the fact that I had this buzzing phone right next to me while I was working on something else.

It was the best opportunity I have ever gotten through this device and because of it I’ve met new people that have in a way changed my life…I’m even making plans to get married to one of them.

It doesn’t change the fact that this trade off is one I’m willing to make. I’m also not actively searching for a new place to work the way I was at the time. Times have changed.

If you find yourself in a place where the peace of mind triumphs over the opportunities that you might be missing then it probably is time for you to unplug. It might be why you are so distracted!

References

1. NCBI-Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health
2. NCBI-The Relationship between Cellphone Usage on the Physical and Mental Wellbeing of University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study