A likely feature of our likely future

A likely feature of our likely future – Few technological advances have changed our daily lives as much as smartphones. Though phones have made many routine activities easier for us, we may have also become excessively dependent on them. Anyd we haven’t just become functionally dependent on them, as when we struggle to do basic arithmetic without our phone. We may also have become emotionally dependent, as when we identify with our phones so much that they believe their social stature depends on their phone brand.

Such emotional dependence is not just due to social pressure but also due to the promotional blitz that accompanies the release of every new version of premium phones. The hype makes some people feel that they must have the latest phone, even if they rarely use most of its latest features. Their self-worth becomes so tied to their phone that they fear if they can’t parade the latest phone, they will be socially devalued, even discounted. Put another way, they fear that if their phone doesn’t have a new feature, they themselves may have no future.

Is such a scenario exaggerated? Maybe for the present, but not necessarily for the future. Consider the trajectory. Less than a couple of decades ago, people existed without smartphones, which hadn’t yet been invented. And now people feel they can’t exist without phones.

Whereas spiritually inclined people go inward to realize that their self-worth lies in their indestructible souls, materially infatuated people go outward to believe that their self-worth lies in their ever-changing phones – such is the radical difference between their values, as the Bhagavad-gita indicates (02.69).  

Thankfully, if we can ground ourselves in our nonmaterial essence through spiritual knowledge and practices, we can use phones all we need, without being consumed by them.

One-sentence summary:

If our phone doesn’t have a new feature, we have no future – such an illusion is a likely feature of our likely future

Think it over:

• How have we become dependent on our phones?
• Why do we feel so dependent on our phones?
• How can we use devices without being consumed by them?

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02.69: What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.