The exploding power of the internet along with search engines like Linked in, Google, Meet up, Face Book- professional networks, Xing, Zoom etc. have made answers to basic questions available at a click or couple of clicks. The googles, amazons, flipcarts, have ensured that all smart phones come with so much capability and pre loaded utilities that one is marrying into the UNKNOWN. Unfortunately, they have/ are becoming the monopolies of the world. Bigger than many smaller countries / economies. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Most sites need us to download the cookies and what they can do is collect information on you, spy on you and all who interact with you.
Analysed information/ advice of the knowledgeable / expert level information is also available if one knows where to look. Most of us already use a number of these. Our clients and those who come to us also use it effectively. Therefore, as professionals anlaysed indepth, updated subject expertise is what clients would look at – not what is available on the net.
Today the day of ayud puja/ durga puja starting we may need to safeguard the biggest asset all of us have – our brain. In this article we look first at the mobile advantage which is perhaps the 1 commodity which has the maximum time and money spend in the world today. It is understood that the average professional maybe spending 4 hours per day and the younger ones 6 hours. We also look at the social media impact.
Advantages
The advantages are several which is imperative to use. If we do not adopt IT then we would be redundant today. Many older practitioners have difficulty even though they have used computers for decades. They need to use it to continue to provide service. Some benefits are:
- Enhanced, accurate and faster (instant) communication: The proliferation of artificial intelligence is so amazing profession today 80% of the routine questions could be managed by a good, updated knowledge bank.
- Capture and reuse of information, figures, text reducing duplication.
- Increased productivity due to the speed of computing, routine jobs done accurately in a fraction of earlier time. Once can concentrate on the higher level jobs.
- The Amazons, Flipcarts, Big Baskets are enabling door delivery of almost all products. Even services are available from home. Apps for personal work as well as money transfer, and many more. All of these, release the time for productive work.
- Efficiency and effectiveness in work with use of tools to avoid, duplicate work while doing it much faster.
- The turn around time for most jobs has drastically reduced and at times lead to unrealistic expectancy from the clients for all jobs.
- Reduced travel as face to face communication possible and remote working in many aspect of all businesses enabled. This helps in more hours available with better health.
- Online education possible at low or no cost as even access to the best teachers in the world available on a variety of subjects on You tube as well as several top notch universities like Harvard, Stanford and scores more.
- Professional Networking at low or no cost on many platforms. Leading one being Linked in.
- Lead generation and data analysis tools and service providers for professions where there is no professional restriction on soliciting work. However, one can always do many activities for attracting work well within the bounds of the code of ethics.
- Saving in costs as automation tools used by the client as well as the professional.
Disadvantages
- We have seen how arrogant absolute power has got the same tools which are so beneficial: they are not subject to Control by anyone,[ Amazon has refused to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee!! In India, Anti trust suits in developed countries.] They base themselves in tax havens and do not pay their taxes, they indulge in profiteering- recently google wanted 30% as commission from traders/ service providers in India. In this volume age anything beyond 0.25% would be excessive. Am sure that in due course EVERY COUNTRY WOULD HAVE TO INSIST ON THEIR OVERSIGHT OTHERWISE THEY COULD TAKE OVER OUR MIND AND THE WORLD. May be time that each country has their own controllable search engines??
- The biggest health threat to humans far, far beyond any known disease- heart included is the addiction to the mobile & social media. The 100% reliance/ usage/ reference from the time one wakes up to the time one sleeps. We would become mindless robot in a very short time. Each of us have experienced increased anxiety, comparison with ideals, increased envy and jealousy in increased levels due to the use of the smart phone. This is leading to high stress and fall in self esteem. Many of us do not know when it started controlling us and has become an extension of our hands!! We just cannot leave it even when we go to the toilet or eat. Obviously at work this is the biggest distraction. Heart attacks, diabetes, sleep disorders, depression are now common in the youth.
- We know that our life experiences and for most of us in India- negatives like, don’t do this, you can’t do CA, it is too difficult, when we failed -see we told you so…, it is too risky & so many more may have conditioned the mind to limit our success. We were able to overcome all that and come up in life.
The professional may suspect/ would have realized by now that the earlier conditioning of decades may have been completely changed for the worse in the last 5 years due to the negativity in the newspapers and TV!! The leaders of today who are also exposed to the same have been able to deconstruct this hardcoded negativity to be empowered.
Now the notification, guided news (may be fake), whats app messages ( normally untrue), forwards and suggestion coming in the mobile are working on our sub conscious- till a time may come when we have no individual character!! It is not far-fetched to say that it would control us and makes us zombies is unchecked.
Many of us are actually addicted to the mindless watching of entertaining content for hours at end slouching on our sofa/ bed and have put our life goals in jeopardy!!
- It is said OUR BELIEFS AND HABITS MAKE US WHAT WE ARE. Over period of time, to get mindshare and get us hooked, the search machines have using artificial intelligence been able to trap us (unknowingly – they keep suggesting what we spend time on) into spending more time. They are ACTUALLY MANIPULATING US. More and more we may already be / would be following the suggestions on the phone. Advertisers understanding this would be selling us what we never needed, what is harmful for us with none of us knowing what is happening. A documentary in Netflix on Social Dillema starkly shows what we are in for. IT IS FRIGHTENING. Must watch for all to understand the possible impact.
- It is eating into our time and reducing the focus time day by day. If you ask a normal 25 year old to read an article for 15 minutes, you would see they cannot do it. They get the essence and stop. We already have short movies of 15-20 minutes. Class timing have necessarily to be interactive, shortened and are now full of break if longer to take into consideration shorter focus!!
- The work life balance has gone due to one being available all day and night. The time for games which one can enjoy has been replaced by mindless entertainment with stimulus every few minutes. Hobbies are reducing, fine arts are on their way out as less and less are taking it up other than as a profession. The personal / work times have collapsed.
- Fake news, information, cut paste of others in full or part has led to point that totally incorrect data as well as information is in plenty. One needs to be clear of first confirming the authenticity / experts behind the source. Otherwise one would fall prey of incorrect decisions. We have seen our own opinions after some alterations on the groups as a ready made solution.
- Nothing is a secret therefore confidentiality may get compromised by some of the apps having full access.
What is the Solution?
There is a common per caption that it is easy to quit or control this mobile/ social media addiction. It may not be true. Check out by keeping away for 1 hour, then 1 day and then for 3 days and see for yourself, how much it impacts your state of mind.
Some ways to wean ourselves away or limit the usage if mildly addicted could be as under:
- The basic truth is that once we are better aware, we can make the better choices which would lead to better results.
- Google- important Vs Urgent- if you are stagnating in life or career move out of the 1st quadrant inot the 2nd.
- Stop real time online interaction immediately. No phubbing.
- Track your own screen time and then see whether you can limit it to lesser time on Instagram/ face book etc. to which one is/ on the way to get addicted.
- Turn off all apps which you do not use or at least those which you do not use. Turn off all notifications. Some apps can be turned off like facebook/ Instagram as per your own perceptions of adding value or not.
- Keep all the apps which improve your work/ character. Maybe limit the scope. I am on linked in & facebook, but I do not get any (negligible) distracting posts. May be this is over a time the AI has understood and only gives me what I am interested in. The social media is helping me enormously in my making a difference in the lives of tens of thousands.
- Desk tops usage apps are also available. We use desktime. This can be used individually or by groups or the whole office. It actually gives us what amount of time we spend in the 4th quadrant. The non urgent not important.
For the managers desktime along with actual deliverables would differentiate those who are self-motivated and one can focus on those where there is a gap. Wherever higher level creative work is involved, contemplation, deep thinking is needed, this may be counter productive.
- Think of alternative methods of call, visit for friends and family.
- Fix the time for usage other than work.
- Keep mobile out of bedroom or put it on flight mode when you sleep.
- Turn on the gray scales background to avoid the attractive bright/ luminescent colors.
- Start physical activities like games, hobbies in spare time.
- When using some apps, delete the app itself after use. Younger professionals may know methods of limiting the access, if so limit it.
- Take time to set great wow goals for your life. Read it everyday. Let it be there as a reminder on laptop, mobile for re- reading. Use technology to read it out to you once every week. Declare to your friends and family your great goals and how you are making difference.
- Avoid watching the gripping mindless series. [ I have seen a few and may end upto seeing some more] other than in allocated time. Maybe limit to a movie once in a way.
Serious Addiction
This may need a commitment, duly declared to all and sundry and making the control on the social media and mobile a goal in itself. Three step strategy (yes) would be needed when the above actions are unable to be implemented or one gets back to the old ways. When we take the steps we would still need to do the above actions but in a more focused or determined manner.
Step 1- 21 days[ awareness] – Understanding the cost of the old habit and attempting to destroy it. Look at the celebrities you admire and their habits- Vishwanathan Anand ( chess), PV Sindhu ( Badminton), Elon Musk( Electric car), Steve Jobs…. Everyone of them was not gifted but got to be where they were by putting empowering habits in palce. Every time we start a branch in any place, we always say- you have no choice but to succeed since the actions plan of educating oneself, sharing/ serving would result in work coming in and once well done, we are on the freeway.
Stay with this awareness stage. Needed to totally believe in the negative impact.
This maybe like renovating your house. You need to bring down the house then build as you desire. Slowly one by one chip away the disempowering part of the mobile/ media. Maybe unsubscribe, even if paid for!!
Step 2- 21 Days- [Making the Choices] There would probably be a lot of uncertainty. Confusion in this stage. May be the maximum will power is needed. You need to have leap of faith that it would work. Envision what it would be when you have control over this wonderful tool. How you would reach your goals and dreams easily. Get thru this critical part though it ( fear/ uncertainty hormone) may at times mess your up.
Step-3 – 21 days – [Implementation] Good ideas are worthless unless implemented. Look at the GST, demonetisation by GOI and some in our own personal / office life. Iconic performance comes from installing the right habits. After some time, the new habit becomes automatic and in auto mode.
Conclusion
Make use of the technology to make a positive difference without taking away the independence we as professionals have. Learn it, use it to empower and become the extraordinary professional you have every right and possibility to be.