Can you LIVE without gadgets?

Excerpts from TGV Inner Circle meet held on April 30th 2022.

Thank you Rohit Gupta for hosting the session

Special Thanks to Sangeeta Doni for compiling this easy to digest summary?

Our host Rohit Gupta who always makes sure not to miss any of the TGV Inner Circle meetings opened the session with the Topic of the session “A Day without Gadgets” with a very important question

• “Do we all need to detox from Gadgets?”

What do you think would be the answer from our participants?

Well, the answer to the question was a question by Sudhakar, “Do we really need detoxification in this digital world knitted by technology?

Do we need to put hard and fast rules to keep the gadgets away?”

Rajsree Gopal insisted that every technology brings us positive impact & negative results. But how an individual uses it effectively and does not get obsessed with it is more important.

Rohit Gupta had an interesting answer, as he spends most of his time working on/with different gadgets does not leave him a time to connect with other people around him. He insisted that he feels as if we do fast to remove our dependency on food, and water, then we need to do the same as no gadget day to get rid of the addiction he thinks he is developing.

Pavan Kumar BV brought a very important aspect to the discussion table by suggesting a different name for the session “How to use the gadgets optimally?” He mentioned that the usage of technology has now become a necessity and we can always limit the usage of gadgets.

Rajsree Gopal mentioned that we all use gadgets for the purpose of work, travel, food, and others. It is always better to spend dedicated time for physical activity, and family time and share the stories with others to motivate in TGV Inner Circles.

Yash Wadhia shared his personal experience of his recent days spent at his friend’s village in complete serenity, and nature and enjoyed the moments spent without gadgets (though it was very much available in his bag), no electricity.

Detoxification fuels up the body, mind, and soul. We do not have to take your gadgets away from you, but you can optimize your use of them as and when required.

Balemarthy Vamsi said a very crucial point that gadgets are a necessary evil of present times. We can always restrict ourselves from using it as per our requirements.

• In continuation, our host Rohit Gupta asked the participants an interesting question “Whether these smart devices making us lazier or smarter?”

Anand Goud mentioned how these gadgets induce instant gratification as we are becoming more dependent on the technology even for the simplest things, like remembering phone numbers and doing simple calculations. We can also limit our usage and make wiser choices to keep ourselves healthy. We need to realize the negative impacts of it quickly to do the course correction.

Sangeeta Doni mentioned her story of using the smartwatch & then getting rid of its dependency at a later stage. Starting any journey of health or weight management fades away with time or interest. We always tend to find the motivation factor. But when we understand ourselves, our body, and our breath we can always remove the dependency on these gadgets. Smart gadgets have become our necessity, but we can always come out of their addiction if we make that choice.

Sourish Ghosh mentioned that it is always an individual’s choice or decision to use the gadgets mindfully, we are into an era where we cannot get completely rid of gadgets, but we can make mindful choices to limit their usage.

• ?The next question by Rohit Gupta was “Whether these smart gadgets making our life stress-free or stressful?”

Pavan Kumar BV described how using or getting addicted to the usage of gadgets made him anxious about answering/reading every email related to work. He then made a conscious decision to keep himself away from this to remove the anxiety and stress from his life.

Durga Krishnamoorthy said that over-dependence leads us to the negative side, are we controlling it or being controlled by it, will be impacting our anxiety or stress levels.

Balemarthy Vamsi mentioned that stress develops when we want to prove something, an inclination to control something, and when we want to know more and share the information with others. If we take a break from this and just spend time listening, watching, and observing things other than gadgets will help us to be stress-free.

The next question by Rohit Gupta was “Any factor which keeps us attracted or indulged with the gadgets?

Durga Krishnamoorthy mentioned that the gaming industry and social media platform keeps us attracted as user.

Nitesh mentioned that in the name of AI we are selling everything, but it may be a promotional name. There is no artificial intelligence as such, it is an algorithm. This is making us depend on gadgets.

Anand S Goud said that mobile becomes a storehouse of every service like banking, shopping, communication, entertainment, photos, connection, and payments and this makes us become dependent on gadgets. It should be one’s conscious decision how to control the usage of it.

Balemarthy Vamsi mentioned that the instant gratification which these gadgets bring to us makes us attracted to them.

Naveen Samala shared his story of using WhatsApp only for limited agenda and he did it successfully. He recommended some interesting movie (Idiocracy) which highlights the fact that excessive tech usage makes humans lazy and depend on machines for even a simple math of calculating 1+1 = 2.

Modern Gadgets ?& apps are created based on Neuro Linguistic programming and they make sure that users are always online. Studies have been made in this area which talk about release of Dopamine as and when you get a notification on gadget or app e.g. think of us getting extremely curious about how many likes/responses did one get for a recent post or reel.

IF someone wants to gain control on their life, a strong recommended book by Nir Eyal: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

Pavan Kumar BV mentioned that in the craziness of building our careers to please leaders and being up to date, we often assume that we are making smart decisions and keep increasing our dependency on gadgets. We assume that a career is the only most important thing and do everything which is related to it, and we compromise or neglect the other important things and treat them as trivial.

Rohit Gupta asked all of us “Whether peer pressure is also a driving factor for keeping us attached to these gadgets?”

Anand S Goud said that he agrees with the point that peer pressure is one of the driving factors to remain attached to gadgets to be on social media, as a content creator, to compete to get more followers, to get more likes.

?Rohit & Nitesh both mentioned how peer pressure has made our elders also to use smartphones and social media.

The session’s last and final question was “What is that one Gadget you can live without?”

Sangeeta mentioned that she has given up the Fitbit and she can live without it.

Durga & Pavan mentioned that they both can live without TV.

Rohit said that he can live without earphones & smartwatch.

Yash mentioned that he would need gadgets as he is tech-savvy, but he can give up his mobile.

Balemarthy Vamsi mentioned that he uses very less gadgets and whatever he uses is very optimal.

That was a fabulous conversation as always.

Thank you for reading!

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