High tech Buddhism: how to get out of the infamous video-scrolling-loop
The debate over the effects of smartphones on society and human mental health has been ongoing for quite some time.
The situation has obviously gotten worse in the last 2-3 years. Buses and trains are full of people who seem to be staring hypnotized at the screen of their phone, swiping their finger on it now and then, just like zombies.
New techniques, such as continuous video scrolling loops, have been introduced. They target some well known weak points of our psyche and they promote the production of some hormones that give us pleasure. If you feel guilty after having wasted hours watching some silly videos non-stop, well do not worry: it's not your fault. You're being manipulated like a lab mouse. Fortunately (maybe) we're not mice, and we do have methods to preserve our mental independence, if we want to. So if you are happy with your hours of trance like state you can ignore the rest of this post. But if you want to get out of this mental trap you might find what follows useful.
The solution is actually grounded in some very old ideas. Good old Siddhartha Gautama, aka the great Buddha, had a very similar insight when he was trying to find a way out of our obsessive thinking about past and future, that distracts us from the only moment that matters: the present one. That solution is called MINDFULNESS.
Let’s clarify the problem first. You're looking at your phone, you tap on a video that you're interested in. The video ends, it automatically scrolls out of the window and another one replaces it. You watch that too. And then one more, and another one. You forget what you were doing with your life earlier, and keep watching stupid videos instead. Like a zombie, that is. You might go on like that for minutes, or even hours. When you finally stop you might feel depressed, humiliated, manipulated. It's not a nice feeling, not at all. You could have done any other thing with the time that you've been deprived of. If you are curious and creative, of course, otherwise this might be just the right tool for you to kill your idle time.
How can you keep this tendency in check if you’re not happy with it?
For a while your mind will be totally into the videos you're presented, but now and then it will be distracted and you will re-acquire free will. It's our nature, it will happen spontaneously. This clear minded state will last just a few seconds, then you'll be sucked back into the video sequence again. People normally ignore that chance, and willingly dive back into the hypnotized state anew. But you can use that opportunity to realize what you're doing, what you would rather like to do, say no to that trash and close the app. That's where mindfulness must kick in: to help you get a foot in the door so that you can get out of the cage.
If that moment slips away and you haven't taken advantage of it, don't worry, it will come back. You'll have a second try, and and third, and so on. The longer you wait the more idiotic videos you'll watch. You have to discipline yourself and try to grasp that chance as soon as possible. You need discipline, mindfulness, meditation, resistance. You have to fight for your mental independence. But you can make it. Never give up. Phµck the manipulators!
