Sweetheart,
Put your phone down.
And I know it's a bit rich,
Talking to you through an app.
But what I'm talking about is a general principle.
We're all walking around with our phones in our pockets,
In our hands,
All the time.
So,
I'm asking us,
As a collective,
To consciously make the effort sometimes to put down our phones.
And I'm doing that because I wholeheartedly believe that it's unhealthy.
That jumping at every notification is unhealthy.
I don't think it's good for our mental health.
I don't think it's good for connection with other people,
With the world.
I think it's linked,
In no small part,
To commerce,
To getting us to buy things.
And I would like to join the resistance,
And I'd like you to join the resistance.
So,
I think we should sit together now,
And find a comfortable position,
And explore how we might use our phones less.
Reflecting,
First of all,
On your own phone use.
So,
Over the last couple of days,
What's your phone use been like?
And,
Do you feel like it might be advantageous to you,
And those you connect with in the real world,
To make some adjustments?
Reflecting now on the media you consume through your phone,
People or voices you might follow,
Things you might be exposed to,
Or consuming on a regular basis.
And just asking yourself whether anything might need to be tweaked there.
And I'm thinking about perhaps being more intentional about curating what you consume.
Thinking,
Reflecting now on the way you connect and interact with people,
The way you connect and interact with your environment,
And with nature.
And reflecting on how you might increase IRL,
Or in real life,
Connection,
Interaction,
And consumption now.
And perhaps it's useful for me to offer my voice,
For me to offer the phrase,
Sweetheart,
Put your phone down,
And for me to hope that that pops up in your head when you find yourself doomscrolling for a long time.
Or when you find yourself distracted and not engaging with the real people that are in your space,
Or the wonderful environment that's around all of us.
But instead,
You're hunched over your phone,
And I'm not just talking about you,
I'm talking about myself as well,
All of us.
But perhaps I humbly offer the phrase,
Sweetheart,
Put your phone down,
And perhaps you might like to offer it with a smile,
With love,
With a sense of humour,
A grace.
Offer it to yourself,
And offer it to others,
When you can see that actually technology is getting in the way of us and other people really experiencing this very brief thing called life.
So it's so important that we remind ourselves to come back to the moment,
To come back to our moment,
To come back to our lives.
To open our eyes,
To look around,
To smell,
To listen,
To smile,
To look people in the eye.
To live while we're here,
Connect and love while we're here,
And very little of that,
If any of that,
Can happen if we continue to spend so much time on our phones.
So one more time,
For those at the back that didn't hear me the first time,
Sweetheart,
Put your phone down.
Sweetheart,
Put your phone down.
And thank you so,
So much for practising with me today.
