There it goes, that zap or ping or zing from our mobile devices and suddenly it is in our face. Although you really want to ignore it you can’t. You are once again engrossed in media land. Although there is no real voice there you go to it. It is easy to stay connected with friends right? Heck you have 550 of them and more are friending you every day. You are so popular. Believe it or not research tells us that the more time we spend on social the worse we feel.

Technology the good, the bad and the ugly. The good thing is that we can keep in touch and get in touch with those people that we haven’t seen in years, the bad thing is that depending on who we are following we can feel bad about our own lives and feel as though we are missing out.

This level of communication does have its benefits. but this behavior can become addictive. Who wants to look at the top of someone’s head because they are always staring at their phone? I find it rude when someone reads a text or email and laughs out loud but isn’t willing to share whatever made them laugh. Wouldn’t you rather communicate face to face with another human being?

Thanks to technology and electronics, research is showing that the attention span of an average American has dropped to the attention span of a goldfish. In a recent study from the American Psychological Association 1/5th of people say that technology is a form of stress.

The problem with always being “on” is that believe it or not, you can suffer from neck pain and it can even cause wrinkles. So how do you relax your grip a bit and begin to detox from the cell blues?

One thing that you can do is turn off push notifications. That constant ping or buzz makes you react like Pavlov’s dogs. It is extremely distracting and interrupts your focus. You find yourself thinking, who is it, what am I missing, does someone need me? This cuts down on our on task work time. So turn off all of the notifications that you can live without. Trust me you can live without more than you think that you can. Believe it or not 11 years is the number that a person will look at their mobile device over a lifetime. (Data from the makers of the moment app, scary huh?) The average number of days that a person will spend playing games during a year is. 30 and we check our phones an average of 47 times a day. Yikes!

One of the reasons that our devices attract us is that they are pretty. One of my very favorite movies of all time is “A Bug’s Life” the line I like the most is, “Don’t look at the light!” The other bug says, “I can’t help it, it’s so beautiful.” And he gets zapped. That pretty screen is alluring and draws you to it just like a bug to a light so turn it to black an white screen and that will help you to stay away from it.

One of the things that I do is designate hours that I am not allowed to use my devices. I love my iPad and even more so now that I have a keyboard, but staying away does wonders for my personal well being. At first it was really hard but after a month I looked forward to that time away from technology, it was then that I realized how very much I was allowing it to run my life.

Another thing that I do is not allow anyone to use devices during dinner. Dinner is a time to talk about our day, our lives and share. I do not care if I receive a call or text durning that time, it can wait. To be honest at first I was in a sweat! Media addiction I referred to it as. Do not let it run your life, if someone really needs to get you they will call. My rule? Call me twice and I will know that it is serious. It works. The more energy we are directing toward our devices, the less we are directing to the people who are with us. Take the time to realize that technology is technology. Social media is not a really person and that real person sitting in front of you wants to connect with you. Enjoy the moment.

And talking about moments, make your bedroom a no tech zone. No iPads, computer, mobile phone or television. Light pollution from these devices disturbs our sleep. These lights, even street lights actually trick our brains into thinking that it is daytime and then it is harder to get to sleep. Many people do use their mobile phones as alarm clocks but how many of us when we can’t sleep start scrolling through Facebook or start playing a game? You may get separation anxiety from this but try leaving your mobile device out of your bedroom and invest in an alarm clock. Trust me you will sleep better.

Just like when gambling becomes an addiction, our phones can become an addiction. It really does affect the reward center in your brain and releases dopamine, that is your pleasure hormone, just like gambling. Check out some of the apps that can keep track how often you are on your phone, it can be eye opening.

Reading books is not a thing of the past. Try it. It is more rewarding to watch the pages get less and less and the satisfaction of finishing it and laying down is second to none.

Technology is a great thing, but take a break from it and rediscover real conversations. Leave your phone home sometimes or in the car when you are out with friends. Look at the wonder and beauty of the world around you instead of a screen. You may be surprised at what you have been missing.