There’s a proverb that says, “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.”
It’s hard to offer a cheerful look when your chin is deep in your chest, and your eyes are glued to a heartless device.
I can easily leave my phone behind for a daily walk or to spend time with family. A recent experience revealed I benefit from being phone-free in other instances, too.
I was volunteering at a gymnastics meet when fellow volunteers needed to be quickly relieved to see their daughter compete.
Within seconds of sitting alone at the ticketing table, I realized I had rushed there empty-handed. I had no phone—or even a book—to entertain myself in a long, quiet, isolated hallway. I had a visceral reaction as my heart sped up and my brain desperately weighed options. I couldn’t leave my post. I couldn’t call for help.
The only option was to deal with the impending boredom. Suddenly, my oft-repeated motherly advice to my children came to mind: “You don’t need to be entertained.” This became my personal invitation to accept the situation. Forced to sink into the unfamiliar, I sat and did nothing but gaze out distant windows.
Eventually, people began to trickle in to buy tickets. I was so grateful for the mental stimulation that I found myself extraordinarily cheerful to the families coming in the door.
I was more engaged, offering eye contact and encouragement to nervous, young athletes. They responded in kind. Had I been lost in a scroll—or even in the pages of a book—I wouldn’t have offered folks a cheerful look.
It occurred to me that the dopamine hit I get from habitually reaching for my phone may be depriving me—and others around me—of sincerely felt joy.
“Constant connectivity and the compulsion to check notifications, messages, or social media updates have become ingrained in our daily routines, often to the detriment of our individual and relational well-being,” writes Epoch Times contributor Gregory Jantz.
Sure, we can use our phones to nurture relationships or perform work tasks. However, as Jantz points out in his recent article, some people are so addicted to phones that they have them out while driving and even during high-ticket-priced events.
“This is not a grumpy diatribe about the evils of smartphone use. It’s a recognition that our digital devices, especially phones, have massively shifted the way we live—in some wonderful ways and some decidedly not-so-wonderful ways. Among all of the big upsides might be even bigger downsides,” he writes.
Jantz, founder of a mental health clinic, explains the different types of phone addictions, how they impact our health, and ways to break free.
Among them is prioritizing face-to-face interactions.
About 20 minutes after I was left alone at the ticketing table, another parent volunteer came to ask how I was doing.
I mentioned that I’d left my phone behind, and she quickly offered to fetch it for me. I thought for a moment and realized I had no need for it. Besides, without my phone, I offered the best version of myself to all who came to the meeting our team was hosting.
“Actually, I don’t want it,” I told her. She offered an incredulous look and slowly backed away, asking, “Are you sure?”
At least for that day, I was.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.