Can You Hang Up on Anxiety?
Wouldn’t it be nice if it were only that easy? But what if there were something you could do that would help diminish anxiety? A study that comes out of the University of Texas suggests that there just might be.
The typical cell phone user pulls out and uses their phone 80 times a day or 30,000 times per year. And while our phones offer convenience and diversion, they also breed anxiety. “Not only do our phones shape our thoughts in deep and complicated ways, but the effects persist even when we aren’t using the devices. As the brain grows dependent on the technology, the research suggest, the intellect weakens.”
The study goes on to state, “Because smartphones serve as constant reminders of all the friends we could be chatting with electronically, they pull at our minds when we’re talking with people in person, leaving our conversations shallower and less satisfying.” The mere presence of cell phones, when talking with another person, can leave you feeling less empathy and understanding from the person you are talking with.
What we find is that the brain’s growing dependence on technology, the pull of the phone to continually draw us into our virtual world, and the ways in which the presence of our cellular devices inhibit deeper conversation – all work to serve up an unhealthy dose of anxiety.
But by being intentional about limiting smart phone use as well as leaving it out of the room when with people face-to-face, we can actually begin to “hang up on” a certain amount of anxiety. Why not give it a try this week and see what happens? God did not purpose us to live anxiously but to live at peace.