Why Turning Off Your Smartphone Will Improve Your Life - Thoughts for the Week | June 2 | 2017
A client sent this to us – thank you! A Washington Post article sharing three ideas from the recent TED2017 conference, held in Vancouver. The conference theme was “The Future You”, and included, among many talks, discussions on artificial intelligence, the biology of behavior, and why coping mechanisms fail at the worst times. You can find info on the conference here, https://ted2017.ted.com/.
On our team we share a common goal of going to bed a tiny bit smarter than when we woke up. And the Post article, written by Colby Itkowitz (please find link below), shares some simple life improvements that, while seemingly obvious, are not always incorporated. And they align with a theme we’ve written about of late: re-assessing priorities to make sure we’re not undervaluing that which makes life awesome.
Face-to-face social interaction leads to a longer life
This came from a talk delivered by psychologist Susan Pinker. “Those with intimacy in their lives, with support systems and frequent face-to-face interactions were not only physically and emotionally healthier, but they also lived longer.” Pinker has devoted loads of time to researching the impact of human connections, and finds in-person contact “releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters and, like a vaccine, they protect you now in the present and well into the future.” Simple things like a handshake or a high five can “lower your cortisone level and release dopamine”, lowering stress and improving your outlook.
Unfortunately, Pinker finds that a quarter of the population “says they have no one to talk to.” How can we solve for this, given different personalities, anxieties, fears, etc.? Pinker suggests “building in-person interactions into our cities, into our workplaces, into our agendas...building your village,” she terms it. We agree – simple changes at the margin that can yield real benefit.
Knowing when to turn off your smartphone enriches your life
Adam Alter, psychology professor at NYU, delivered this talk. He tells the story of a German company whose employees can choose a rather unique option for their “out-of-office” email response while on vacation. Rather than a customary “limited access to email” reply, the response simply tells the sender that their email has been deleted, and they can email back when the person returns from vacation or contact another employee if it is an emergency. Applause from the audience broke out!
Alter’s insight is that technology has erased “stopping cues.” Movies and books end. You can actually reach the end of a newspaper. But scrolling on your phone is endless. The posts never stop, the articles never stop, and we forget “how to break away.” A graph Alter showed illustrates a troubling trend: that technology has moved from consuming a small portion of our free time in 2007 to consuming most of it in 2017. In his view (and ours), putting the phone down – he suggests airplane mode on the weekends; access to the camera but no internet – can lead to a wonderful ability to enjoy life more.
Chasing meaning, not happiness, is what really matters
Emily Esfahani Smith, author of “The Power of Meaning,” came to an ironic conclusion: “that constantly evaluating our own happiness is actually contributing to feelings of hopelessness and depression.” To
Smith, “happiness is in the moment, fickle and fleeting.” It is not synonymous with meaning, and it is meaning that really matters.
A number of her characteristics of meaning struck a chord: belonging, purpose, and transcendence. The first, belonging, is “prioritizing those who truly love and care about you.” Purpose doesn’t have to be about work, but Smith points out that issues like unemployment are not just economic but existential as well. “Without something worthwhile to do, people flounder.” Finding something that drives you is crucial.
Transcendence is “finding something that can take you outside of yourself”. Yoga or hiking may do it. If you’ve rock climbed, you know how your brain just locks in – everything else disappears. Same with playing an instrument.
Sometimes we have investment topics to write about, sometimes we write on talking to your kids about money. And sometimes we just want to share something cool we’ve read. This is one of those. Maybe something in the article creates a spark; maybe nothing does. After all, it’s more common sense than ground-breaking. But this article made things a bit more clear for us – we felt smarter for having read it. Hopefully you can find something in it too.
Enjoy your reading and your weekend,
Mike, Scott, Zack, Cate, Marina, Julia
Private Wealth Advisors
Mike Burbank, Managing Director Wealth Management
Scott Hafeli, CFA
Zack Schiller, CFP
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management
555 California Street, 14th Floor | San Francisco, CA 94104
Office: 415 576 3131
Source:
“Prioritizing These Three Things Will Improve Your Life – And Maybe Even Save It,” Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post, 4/28/2017
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