Digital Cocaine in a Juggling Mind
Our brains are indeed strong, yet at the same time they are highly fragile. Just as it has the capacity to fight battles so can it be scattered into pieces due to one single storm. That is the reason why we must maintain a balance of everything we do, excess of anything is sure to make you a slave of it. Even reading should not become an addiction as life is not merely reading only but living. Living by overcoming the daily battles. The modern generation has gone astray vastly as many cannot engage in a single task at one stretch for forty five minutes without looking into their phones.
Just as they return from school they run to their phones like hungry lions running to their prey. A research has found out that any digital activity beyond an hour aggravates adrenaline in to the system beyond its normal limits. Once, a Forbes article discussed the topic, “Do Computers Fry Your Brains?” Digital devises have certainly fried our brains and disconnected us from the true meaning of life. One of the main reasons the modern generation is so fragile and easily giving up is because of their addiction to digital devices. Their minds have not been trained to fight the real battles, instead they have been fighting battles in video games. A video game cannot embed the mental strength that is required to handle rejection. Facebook will not accumulate the strength you require to stand before thousands of people and deliver a speech or present a concept to a group of elite people.
This is why Brad Huddleston named his book as “Digital Cocaine”. There is no difference between the addiction of cocaine and the digital devices. Both can steal a person from himself and make him a slave of the digital activities, just as cocaine would make a person a slave of it. If you work out for three hours a day when your capacity is sixty minutes you are sure to collapse or get dizzy or even pass out. We witness even the strongest athletes who can run 800 metres, collapse to the ground when they stretch out beyond their capacity. Everything has a limit it can stimulate, when you overstimulate your nervous system increases its production of cortisol; the stress hormone. Cortisol gives out the signal that it is too much to handle. Cortisol is essential in communicating, it acts as the “The Fight Response” meaning that there is a challenge ahead and you need to overcome it either by facing it or by escaping it wisely.
Some battles need not be fought. As a youngster, I attempted to fight each and every battle and I even got myself behind bars at times as I fought battles that should not have fought. When high levels of cortisol is produced, you are readily inviting anxiety, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure and even diabetics.
Some students do not even get an appetite for their meals if they do not spend some time on social media. Their hunger lies on digital food. Children stare at their phone screens for hours and hours. Even though we are giving it to them out of love, little do we realise that we have given them something which is similar to cocaine. Undoubtedly, devices are needed in order to perform well in this world. Yet, the problem is, does the device control us or do we control the devices. It is true that technology has transformed our lives, at the same time it has also stolen our peace. We have purchased technology over the cost of our happiness. Frustration is all around the corner.
Everything is at your fingertip, yet, peace and joy are miles and miles apart from humans. Technology has made our emotions numb.
I was a CEO who constantly fought with multinational giants and I understand the importance of technology very well. I made sure that I would never allow the devices to be my main source of pleasure. Some people are glued to their devices even during their meals at the dining table with their families. This is an indication that they are more pleasured by the device rather than from being with their families. The boundaries of using technology should be drawn by man. My daughter Esther would always generally come and welcome me when I come after a hard day of work, yet, she does not do the same whenever she gets the phone to her hand. This really alarmed me. Just as I educate the world, I also face the same battles that every other parent faces. Understanding the nature of the battle with the brain has given us the ability to manage our children alongside many other commitments so that they do not get into any habit.
The lifespan of pleasure is very limited. If you stick to the same menu for thirty consecutive days, your brain will send out a signal stating that it is enough and it needs something tastier than that. Pleasure runs through a hedonic treadmill where one type of pleasurable activity becomes invalid once it is tasted over a period of time. That is why we have not stopped at the small Maruti car that we used to drive so happily. Bigger dreams are certainly essential. Yet, dreaming of the future without being content in the present is similar to not enjoying the tasty meals which are kept on your table because you are dreaming of an international buffet which is advertised on the screen. Overloading your levels of pleasure demands the brain to enhance the bar in to a higher level. This process is known as the “Addictive Process”. Dopamine is the chemical communicator that signals pleasure. Flooding dopamine into you will transform you in to and addict. Even whilst you are happy with two yoghurts if you keep eating up to five yoghurts, you will never again be happy with two yogurts.
Your pleasure signals say that your level of pleasure lies at eight yogurts. This is why we should be extremely careful about digital addiction. When children become addicted to their devices their general pleasure decreases thus it requires and pushes them to spend more time with their devices. That is why they say “I am board” when they do not have a device in hand. That is because they are not attached to their defined pleasure line which is their digital device. The younger generation is addicted to devices, they do not have the mental strength to face rejection, correction and development. Their brain defines them as highly painful activities as their brain has been accustomed to use easy instantly gratifying pleasures from digital activities. This state is known as Anhedonia which means reducing the ability to experience pleasure. According to the level of Anhedonia our brain’s pleasure centre demands the level of stimulation to be increased before delivering more feelings and pleasure.
We have the right to do anything but we must keep in mind that everything is not beneficial. We live in a highly detrimental state where some addictions are socially acceptable. Come, let us fight and save our children from the addiction to the mobile phones, video games, text messaging, social media and finally the addiction of multitasking which is nothing but mind juggling. When your mind juggles on various activities at the same time then you will not be able to focus on that one activity, your energy will be divided to many avenues from the most important to the least important at the current moment.