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Comment by bparsons | Hacker News Reader

People underestimate the change that took place between 2008 and 2012 with ubiquitous phone usage. All of a sudden we all started staring at these devices for several hours a day. We never leave this thing.

The resulting impact on our mental state cannot be overstated.

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I have fell into this trap and I'm 30. When I'm bored I'm thinkin about projects and business ideas.

But when I use my phone for 5 hours in a day my brain is done. I am now working really hard to set boundaries with my phone and limit usage. Because I have a feeling I will look back when my time comes and feel like I wasted great years looking at stupid garbage.

There are some great creators on youtube and other platforms but the suggested videos may suck you in.

Yep.

Boredom drives in person socialising and creativity.

Human contact and the act of creation engender life satisfaction, a long term persistent sense of well-being that is far better for you than short term spikes of happiness, and the antithesis of depression.

We are never bored with a phone in our pocket.

This isn’t true. I’m reminded of this interview with some women who lived through Victorian era England (before any phones existed)[0]. Towards the middle of the interview she talks about the mud in the streets and how they spent hours brushing mud off their dresses. She even makes a quip and says, “of course now those hours are spent looking at the television”. If the interview happened today, I’m sure she would have said cell phone instead of television.

I think many of us romanticize the past.

[0]: https://www.upworthy.com/amp/unearthed-bbc-interview-feature...

So - boredom is our natural instinct meant to steer us towards socialization. The ever present phone gives us stimuli that makes our intuition think that we are engaging socially. But the reward we are looking for is social bonding but it doesn't happen because our cognitive functions that makes sense of bonding can't execute because there's no full person to bond to. Most often it's an anonymous disembodied text or an influencer or celebrity that do not know you...?

Maybe people also don't really process or understand their emotions when the phone is available. If you always have your phone to entertain you (play music, scroll on instagram etc.), then you don't give yourself time to reflect on your current mental state

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