Mindfully Using Our Smartphones

In this guided mindfulness exercise, we are going to be bringing mindful awareness to our experience as we move through some simple, every day smartphone activities. In this way, we can start to make more conscious and nourishing choices around how we engage with technology.

Transcript

Hi I'm Neil and this is the smartphone meditation.

In this guided mindfulness exercise we're going to be bringing mindful awareness to our experience as we move through some simple everyday smartphone activities.

Before we start I just like to give a few words on what this exercise is about and how you might benefit from it.

So our smartphones can be incredibly helpful in modern life.

With a few taps of our finger we can connect with a friend via message or on social media.

We can navigate to somewhere we've never been before using Google Maps or we can learn new ways to meditate using apps like Insight Timer to support our well-being.

At the same time because the apps and websites that we use are designed to be so compelling and so easy to use we might find at times that we lose touch with awareness when we're using our phones.

We might not be fully aware of the mental and emotional patterns at play or the automatic behaviors that we can become caught in when we use technology.

In fact with so many apps and companies competing for our attention with emails notifications and alerts it may sometimes feel like our attention and energy are being pulled around in a way that feels out of our control.

Perhaps reflect for yourself do you ever find yourself picking up your phone or checking for messages even though you'd only just put your phone down a few minutes earlier?

Or maybe sometimes you go online to complete one task and then minutes or even hours later you find yourself lost browsing the internet or on social media or playing a game.

Do you ever put your phone down or close your laptop and notice that your body feels really tense or perhaps your breathing has become very short or shallow?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes then you're not alone.

In fact everyone that I interviewed while developing this meditation either reported similar experiences or shared that their phones were sometimes a source of stress for them.

So how can we respond to this challenge?

Well the first step is to bring much more awareness to our interactions with our phones and in this exercise we'll be doing so by bringing the spotlight of awareness to our physiology,

Emotions and behaviors as we complete some simple tasks on our phones.

And in this way we can start to make more conscious and nourishing choices about how we engage with technology.

So let's begin by placing your phone on the surface in front of you or next to you and locking it and placing it face side down.

And before we engage with our phones we're just going to take a couple of minutes to pause,

Bring our awareness inwards and charge up our mindfulness.

So once you've got yourself in a comfortable sitting posture allowing your eyes to close or lowering your gaze and coming into stillness.

So let's just take a pause,

Nothing that you need to do for the next couple of minutes.

And we're just sitting here perhaps allowing the body to be heavy,

Allowing the jaw to loosen and shoulders to drop,

Softening the palms of the hands,

Allowing the belly to be soft,

The buttocks to relax and letting the legs be heavy.

And as you sit here in this way the invitation is just to notice whatever is passing through awareness.

You might be aware of sounds from the environment around you,

Bodily sensations,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neutral.

Thoughts might pass through the mind as words or images.

And it might be that your phone is already calling for attention,

It might be vibrating or pinging away as notifications come through.

And if this is the case for you right now then perhaps just noticing what impact this has on your inner experience.

How does it feel in your body?

Does it cause you to tense up?

Does it trigger your nervous system?

And as best you can just coming back to the feel of your whole body sitting here,

The weight of the body and the buttocks and the feet,

The body sitting here breathing.

So even if our attention is drawn elsewhere you can set an intention just to come back to our bodies,

To come back to this practice.

And then when you're ready slowly opening your eyes and picking up your phone now.

And as you pick up the phone just taking a moment to feel the weight of it in your hand.

Most smartphones are quite heavy,

There's a lot of powerful technology packed into this small device in the palm of your hand.

Maybe just noticing that on a level of sensation,

The feel of weight in your hand.

Also you might notice the feel of the shape of the phone in your hand.

So the feel of the overall construction,

The texture of the surface of the phone,

The screen or its case.

You might also be aware of any buttons that might be sticking out from the sides.

On some phones you might notice that the screen has come on or even unlocked without you having to do anything.

Before we continue,

Before we actually do anything with the phone,

Perhaps just taking a moment now to explore your underlying relationship with this object in your hand.

So when you hold it knowing that you're about to use it,

Is there a sense of excitement or anticipation around using the phone?

Or maybe there's a sense of anxiety or unease or something else entirely?

What does it feel like in these moments prior to interacting with your phone?

So now let's continue by unlocking your phone,

However that works with your particular phone.

And as you arrive on the home screen,

Just taking in the colours and shapes through the eyes and the level of sensing through the eyes what you see.

Also noticing how it feels to have unlocked your phone.

The colourful icons give our brain shiny rewards every time we unlock.

And you might experience this as a subtle sense of pleasure or satisfaction or reward.

So maybe just locking your phone again and then just unlocking it and just noticing how that feels to see those rich colourful shapes,

The icons,

Their meaning and how that affects you.

In fact you might reflect about whether in your daily life you ever find that you've unlocked your phone without any particular purpose.

You've just sort of got it out of your pocket to play with,

Just for the sense of reward that you get by unlocking it.

And as you look at the phone,

Messages or notifications might pop up and really just noticing how these capture and draw your attention elsewhere.

So perhaps acknowledging any impulses or if there's a sense of urgency around looking at a particular message or notification or if you feel compelled to respond or act in any way.

And as best you can just setting aside these any notifications for later knowing that you can come back to them.

And perhaps noticing how all of this feels in your body.

Noticing anything else that pulls for your attention on the home screen.

So some phones or some apps might have little red counters or little red circular badges with numbers in them and some of the apps that tell you that there are notifications waiting for you.

Acknowledging if this is true for you right now on your phone and how this affects you,

How it feels in your body.

And then now let's do some very simple mindful web browsing.

So I was just opening up whatever web browser you have on your phone and we're going to search for something.

So just choosing a keyword,

Something that you're you're kind of interested in.

So I'm going to type in mindfulness and hit search and then just waiting for the results to come up.

If your internet is slow then noticing how this affects you.

There's a holding of your breath or if there's a frustration or some other reaction.

Noticing what happens when you have to wait.

And then once the results come up,

Just beginning to scroll through the results.

Perhaps noticing how quickly the eyes scan through the content,

Flicking around,

Focusing on certain words or phrases.

Noticing what captures your attention.

And yeah maybe just acknowledging how quickly you do all of this.

It's second nature for many of us.

And then just choosing one of the results that's come come up and clicking on that.

Clicking through.

I'm just beginning to absorb the content that you see.

Perhaps noticing how you take in the information.

So do you read methodically slowly from the top left or is it more that you you kind of the mind is already scanning through for important information.

Noticing if your attention skips around.

And how does all of this feel on an emotional level?

So do you feel calm?

Do you feel settled?

Or is it more is there more excitement or does the whole thing quite feel quite frantic how you interact with your phone?

Noticing if you start to really get drawn into the content.

So noticing if you start to lose touch with your body.

If it's more more as if mind and technology become one when they entangle together.

So let's pause now.

Just pausing from your phone and keep it in your hand.

Keep it unlocked.

But just allowing your attention to shift back into your body.

So feeling the weight of the body and whatever you're sitting on.

As you bring your awareness inwards maybe just noticing if if there's anywhere in the body where you're holding tension.

Any clenching or bracing that's there.

Checking in with the breath.

So if you notice that you're holding your breath at any point then just allowing breathing to continue naturally.

And then when you're ready let's move our attention back to the screen now.

Back to to our mindful browsing.

So I'm just continuing to browse in your own time for the next couple of minutes.

So perhaps you might want to search for something else or go back to the search results.

Feeling your fingers as they they tap or scroll through whatever's on the screen.

Feeling the weight of your phone in your hand.

Noticing how you take in information.

How you absorb it.

How you navigate this information.

And when you start to lose awareness or you start to lose contact with your body then you can always pause,

Shift your attention back to the body.

So if you start to feel light-headed or very up in your head then maybe just letting your body be heavy.

Giving up the weight of your body to gravity.

Fitting the weight of the phone in your hand.

And then coming back to mindfully browsing,

Searching,

Reading,

Absorbing information.

Noticing what pulls for your attention.

Noticing when your attention moves out of conscious choice and when it's more pulled by something on your phone.

So we'll shortly be bringing this exercise to a close.

So just noticing how it feels to be disengaging from your phone now.

If there's any sense of wanting to continue or maybe there's a relief to be putting it down.

How does this feel in your body?

And then locking the phone and putting it aside.

Letting your eyes to close.

Perhaps acknowledging any changes that have happened in your body during this exercise.

If there's any tension or holding or changes in breathing.

And just taking a few moments to reflect on what you've noticed during this exercise.

When you really brought awareness to your phone,

What did you become aware of?

How is it different to how you normally use your smartphone?

What did you discover during this exercise?

Was there anything that surprised you?

And then letting go of the reflection.

Perhaps once again dropping down into your body.

Feeling the support of the chair or whatever you're sitting on.

Letting the body be heavy.

Allowing the jaw to loosen.

Shoulders to drop.

Palms,

The belly to soften.

Nothing to do.

Nothing to achieve.

And then when you're ready,

Opening your eyes.

And if you found this exercise helpful,

You might set an intention for the rest of the day to bring more awareness to how you use your phone.

So noticing what compels you to do things.

So noticing what compels you to pick it up.

Noticing what's happening in your body and on an emotional level when you're using your phone.

And noticing when you lose awareness,

When you get lost in your phone.

But for now we'll bring this exercise to a close.

So thank you for practicing with me and may you be well.

Reviews

Thank u for this awareness of my phone 🙏

Thank you, I felt relief to put it down and close my eyes

Excellent!🙏

Thanks for this ☺️

Highly recommend this to everyone!

Thank you for the perspective

Good and helpfull exercise 🙏🏻

This is a wonderful exercise for anyone who feels “controlled” by their phone or other devices. Like others, I try not to use my phone during meditation (except for running the Insight app) so I just listened this morning and did not engage in the exercises. But I will try it another time in my day. I will also work at being more intentional with my use of the phone. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to explore your relationship with your phone or similar devices.

Interesting exercise that can be very helpful for distracting behaviours that ensues from the ‘mindless’ use of smartphones.

Thanks, I enjoyed reflecting on this.

I get the concept. And OT is a good one. I personally just dont want to bring the tech into my meditation (aside from using insight!) I guess maybe I'm not as dependent on my phone as I thought I am. Thank you for addressing this, though. I just dont get those itchy feelings of nervousness or angst. For me it is boredom. But I try to meditate instead!

I have bad smartphone habits. This teaching made me aware of my emotional and physical responses to the information that I see and read. Thank you for this 🙏

Really enjoyable. Really made me feel more aware of my behaviour with my phone and my emotions when using it. I think this is one that everyone should do! thank you 🙏🏻

Thank you. This meditation gives me much more mindfull awareness about using my smartphone📲. Everybody should try to learn that 👌👍