Transcription
All right, so I'm going to be completely honest with you guys. I love reading to gain new knowledge and information. But honestly, these days, in such a heavy cell phone and technology-addicted time, I read as a tool to combat being on my phone.
I've realized more and more just the past couple years my phone usage, and I've just had some moments where I've kind of had to confront myself. And like, man, get off your phone. You're on your phone way too much. And so for me, honestly, reading has become a tool to combat that. In the same way that I go everywhere and I keep my phone on me because it's, it's a tool. I need it to navigate, research, pull up things. >> [snorts] >> I, I keep a book with me. Typically, when I go places, I have my backpack or a smaller bag that I just keep with me, and I keep a book in there. So when I do have those moments where I'm sitting and waiting for an appointment, instead of sitting there and scrolling and being on my phone, getting on social media, I decide to just pull out my book and just read to exercise my mind, but also to train myself to slow down and get back to chasing slow dopamine. And I think that's important to realize that about yourself and be honest, but then also discovering tools that help you to combat it.
I was at the gym yesterday, and I actually forgot my headphones. And it was another realization for me. Typically, when I go to the gym, I bring my headphones just to listen to like frequencies, binaural beats, or listen to an audio book. But yesterday, I forgot it, and I was like, all right, cool. I'm still going to. I don't, I don't need them, right? And so I was just that much more aware at the gym, and I was just looking around while I was warming up on the treadmill, and I just saw everybody on their phone in between sets. Everybody was like scrolling, looking at their phones, and who knows what. But I was just like, man, like, it's so hard for us to be present with ourselves, to be one with our workout. And again, I'm, I'm guilty of it myself. But I felt really good yesterday because I didn't have any music in my ears, I didn't have any, um, I wasn't listening to an audio book. Like, it was just me and my workout, my mind, just being aware of everything that's going on around me.
And so I'm encouraging you to do something about it. If, if you, if you also recognize that you're addicted to your phone, I want to encourage you to, to read to combat that, to reverse it, because reading also releases dopamine. It's a lot slower, right? It's not as quick as opening up Instagram and watching a reel or getting on TikTok and getting that quick dopamine release. But pick up a book and just, just read a chapter. Catch yourself in those moments and start to slowly, like, reverse engineer your brain to be addicted to, to slower dopamine releases, right?
Something else that I've started to do as well is when I do consume content in the form of like a movie, like watching a classic, but putting my phone in another room. So that way, I'm not on my phone and watching a movie at the same time. Like doing these things to train my brain to just focus and be present in one place, right? Because I know for a lot of us, it's not realistic to just stop cold turkey and delete all social media, delete all Netflix, like, just stop all things. That's just not reality for a lot of us. Some of us, maybe that's our path, that's what we need to do. But some of us, we just need some slow tools to get our brain back. And I think that the reason that it's hard today to focus and to get our brain back is because everybody around us is typically addicted as well, and we've just normalized it, right? We don't talk enough about how, how bad it is, but we all feel how bad it is. We all feel our attention span being depleted. We all feel more anxious. We all feel more depressed when we are on our devices all day, every day, and then it becomes this negative peer pressure because everybody around us is doing it.
Again, when I was at the gym yesterday, I'm looking at everybody in the gym, and I'd say about 70 to 80% of people had their phones out in between sets and were just scrolling, doing what? You know? It's just like, it's hard for us to, to be in the present moment. And again, just, I think a great way to combat that is picking up books. There's just, there's so many great benefits from it. I know some people will say that all books aren't good books. Very, very right, right? That's, that's all things. There's pros and cons to everything. But for those of you that are in that space where, again, just your, your mental edge, you want your mental edge back, it starts by reprogramming your mind to stop seeking to, to like, pick up your phone, grab the phone, or always needing to be listening to music, or always needing to turn on and go to social media or something whenever you have a free moment. Like learning to be bored, learning to just sit still, learning to be okay with silence again.
I think it's, we're, we're in a time where if we don't wake up and do this now, imagine where the world is going to be in another 10 years. Imagine how much more immersed we're going to be if we don't grab a hold. And I'm not, it, what's crazy is I'm not even as concerned about the, the younger generations as far as like Gen Alpha, because I'm, I'm seeing a shift with Gen Alpha and Gen Z where they're craving something that maybe they haven't had as much access to, where some of us that are a little bit older, the millennials, where we have, have some of us have gotten so deep into technology and social media, and we did grow up without some of this tech, right? And, and I, and I fear for us that our wiring, our, our cognitive ability because of how we grew up, right? Being out, hopefully not all of us, but just being outside, um, physical books, less technology for us, that is our, that is our base. For a lot of us, that is our base, right? We're, we're again, just comparing the younger generations, a lot of them grew up with this technology, and their brain is a little bit more adapted to learn in certain ways, right? And it's again, it's just caveats and nuances and pros and cons to it all.
But for those of you that feel like you're losing your mental edge, you got to pick up a book. You have to. You have to. Yes, it's going to be uncomfortable in the beginning, but if you really want to change, if you really want your mind back, you got to do something different. You got to do something that's going to exercise the brain and challenge the brain and grow the brain, not just entertain the brain. And just being aware of that. Like, just being honest with yourself. I've had those moments where I had to be honest with myself. I'm like, man, you spend way too much time on your phone. You spend way too much time chasing cheap, easy dopamine. Pick up a book.
I've had, like I said, I, I've mentioned in another video, just COVID. COVID was a huge realization, like wake-up call for me where I would, I recognized like, man, I'm, I'm not as sharp as I used to be. It was hard for me to hold conversations with people. I couldn't do what I'm doing right now and walking and making a video extemporaneously or off the top of my head, you know? And I just, I was like, I got to change. I got to do something. So first step for me was getting out of the house more. Getting in environments where I'm comfortable, but not too comfortable to where it forces me to be alert. Even little things like that, being in an environments that force you to be more alert, more aware of your surroundings. And then on top of that, bringing a book. So for me, that became coffee shops. >> [snorts] >> Going to a coffee shop and before I touch my phone or, or even open my laptop to do work, I challenge myself to read a chapter. I'm, I just left a coffee shop right now, and I didn't even open my laptop up. I sat and I read a chapter of a book. I'm out walking now, and I'm headed to the library to pick up a new book.
Because yes, I get a lot of knowledge and information from reading. But also, it's me changing my habits and programming myself to pick up books, to make it a part of my daily routine that I get excited to go get in my routine, to go to a coffee shop to read, in the same way that your brain gets excited to pick up your phone. You got to just kind of take the, the same tools that have been forced upon us unconsciously that make us addicted to social media apps, to our phone. Become aware of it and reverse engineer it for healthier options and outlets, right? And too much of anything is no good. Even books, for example, like some of us, maybe that, that's our problem. But I'd rather be addicted to books, physical books, to be more precise, than being addicted to my phone. I'd rather have a mental edge and feel sharp and feel like I can articulate and communicate to the world.
And so I beg of you, if you're watching this video, to please just pick up a book. Utilize your local library. It's, it's we have. For some of us, and I understand we're all around the world. Shout out to my international subscribers and supporters. But for those of us that live in the West and wherever you are, if you have access to a local library, you're so blessed to be able to have that. There's, there's some places I've looked in the comments on certain videos about reading, and some people have let me know that their country doesn't have, doesn't have free libraries. And it just made me realize like, "Dang, man. Like, I, I never thought about that." But we're, we're blessed in certain areas, certain countries that we live that we have access to a free library where we can go in and we can read, but it's a choice, right? In the same way that getting on social media is free, being on your phone to an extent, outside of your plan paying for it, is free. Exercise your freedom in a way that's going to benefit you.
And I've said this before. If social media is free, who's benefiting from it? Anytime you're using something and it's free, you are the product. Your attention span is the product. And I think more of us are starting to realize that now. We're starting to wake up from it. But switch it. Get back into writing. Get back to doing more analog things. Things that are going to keep your mind sharp. The mind is like a muscle. In the same way where some of us have fallen off from the gym and we haven't had a good workout in a while and you fall off, you get into a slump >> [snorts] >> it's hard to get back into it. But once you get back into it, you're going to be sore for a couple of weeks or maybe a couple of days, right? But you'll bounce back. You rebuild that muscle. You get stronger. The same thing with your mind and with your brain. It's a muscle. You just got to get back into it. You just got to stay consistent. You just have to remain aware of like, "Man, I'm starting to drift." And pick my phone back up again. Make that connection and realize like, "Hey, this is actually unhealthy."
Maybe you need to write about it. Maybe you need to write a letter to yourself. Journal about your experience of your phone usage, right? Do whatever it is that you have to do. But nonetheless, I just wanted to drop in today to share my thoughts and my experience. Again, I think reading is great to get knowledge and information. But it's also a tool that those of us who want our mental edge back, who know that we were once sharp before, get back into your best mental shape. Do what you have to do. For those of you that have the, the finances and resources, order a book that you've been wanting to read for the longest, right? Fiction, non-fiction, scholarly essays and articles, whatever it may be. I just beg of you to not lose your mind to entertainment. But get back to being in control of your thought processes. Get back in control of controlling like your itch and desire when you're bored. Learning to just, just be. Learning to just be in the moment. Stop running from yourself. Stop running from your mind. And finally, regain control and use it to your advantage.
But anyway, I appreciate you watching this Purpose Space video. And I'll be back soon. Peace.