Trading all the “likes” for an hour of depth

Today I write this article as a challenge to myself as well as to share my thoughts with all of our readers. I often can’t count how many times a day I use my phone to check for new notifications, emails, and texts. Yes, I do a lot of work from my phone as that is what my job requires. However, will the world end if I wait an hour or two? Or would it be more enriched with me spending an hour of depth doing something more meaningful?

Yes, I love receiving a FaceBook like or an Instagram love as well as giving them to all of my friends. However, when we constantly check our phone or social media we experience many downsides such as:

• waste valuable time when there is nothing of importance
• dive down rabbit trails that we really don’t need to go on
• our health suffers 
• we have shallow relationships and tasks

There are many definitions for depth. It is the quality of being profound, it is the quality of being deep, and the quality or state of being complete or thorough as well. There are more but the three I provided relate most to the depth I am talking about. The depth we often give up by being consumed by our phones is:

• It is the depth of spending time with your loved ones.
• It is the depth of self-care.
• It is the depth of spending time on a hobby.
• And more.

So as you go to grab your phone, iPad, or other technology to check the latest happens, I encourage you to pause and see what activity you could participate in or do that has some depth. Your life will be rewarded in so many ways.

I am challenging myself to put my phone away (even if it means in another room, on silent, or whatever it takes) to give myself, my family, and my health the depth that it needs.

Contributed by Jessica Clemens