In the past few months, I started noticing that I’ve become a slave. I’m a slave to the internet, and I’m a slave to my phone. I tried remembering how many times I haven’t used my phone for more than an hour in the last few years, but I couldn’t.
在过去的几个月里,我开始察觉自己俨然成了一个奴隶。一个被英特网和手机驱使的奴隶。我试图回想在前几年里究竟有多少次远离手机超一小时,但我无能为力。
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of the internet. I hear the old-schoolers talk about how the internet is killing everything, how we humans are deteriorating because of it. I hear them say that bloggers are not journalists and that social connections are not relationships, but I think they are wrong.
不要误解,我其实是英特网的拥簇者。但却听起守旧派说网络是如何如何地摧毁一切,我们人类又是如何如何地被其腐蚀。还听说博客写手不是新闻工作者,网络社交也不算社交,可我却不敢苟同。
Technology, including in large part the internet, alongside human relationships, is one of the connections that moves our society forward. The innovation that appears in all aspects of our daily lives allows us to be smarter, faster, better. So every time I hear the old-schoolers talk about how the internet is a bad thing, I wonder why they wouldn’t want to be better.
人类关系和科技,也包含广泛应用的网络,相辅相成,它们共同推进社会进步。日常中各领域的革新,促使我们的生活更智能,更迅捷,更美好。所以每当我听见守旧派讨论网络是个坏东西的时候,我就好奇难道他们不想过得更好么?
The BIG problem with the internet is that it makes us dependent. Quite often, I see people (and I’m one of them) that actually look and act like junkies. They can’t stop playing with their phone, iPod, PC, or tablet. They can’t disconnect themselves from the non-stop stream of information that the internet provides us. Like everything in life, when you find yourself dependent on something, it might be the right time to start thinking about whether you need to stop and restart yourself.
网络头号问题就是它把我们变得更依赖它了。好些时候,我看人们(我也是其中一员)的气色和行为都像瘾君子。他们离不开电话,iPod,或者平板电脑。也无法脱离网络给予我们不断流动的信息流。正如身边的任何事物,当你发觉你对它们产生了依赖,就是时候开始考虑是否需要停下来,或重新来过了。
Here are a few tips to help you take a break from your digital addiction:
这里的小贴士可以帮你戒掉数码瘾:
1. Put your phone face-down.
把手机面朝下放
I recently had the good fortune of discovering a fantastic project called undigitize.me. This project is a creation of a young entrepreneur who had enough. He wanted to focus on the things that mattered the most, mainly the people he encountered and his thoughts. One day he realized that the phone was his biggest obstacle.
最近我很幸运地发现了一个叫做“摆脱数码”的项目。这个项目是由一个曾经历许多的年轻企业家创办。他希望将精力集中在重要的事情,还有平时遇见的人物和思考上面。某天他意识到手机是他最大的障碍。
So what does it mean to put your phone face-down? It means that you are preventing your mobile device from capturing your attention every time you receive an email, message, or any other stream of information. It’s not just a statement; it’s a way of life. Keeping your phone face-down means that you are trying to normalize the way you think and act, it means that once again you are in control of your time and focus and will not let any app or service control you.
那么把手机面朝下放是什么意思呢?就是说你要让你的移动设备与你的注意力分开,无论是顾盼电子邮件、短信还是其他的信息流。这不是说说而已;这是一种生活方式。把手机向下放意味着你在努力回归正常的思维方式和表现行为,说明你再次获得了控制时间和集中精力的力量,再也不会让任何软件和电子服务操控你。
2. Go back to sleep.
继续睡眠
Since moving to New York (while my team remains in Tel Aviv), I have been suffering from severe jet lag. This basically causes me to wake up at least three times throughout the night.
自从搬到了纽约(而我的团队留在特拉维夫),我就一直被严重的时差困扰着。基本上每晚我都会至少醒来3次。
The big problem with waking up in the middle of the night, is that while its 3:30 AM in New York it’s also 10:30 AM in Tel Aviv. This means that in the middle of the night, I wake up to at least thirty emails, messages, and push notifications. For some reason, I can’t help but check each one of those notifications until I’m so awake that sleep has become impossible. One thing leads to another, and I suddenly find myself answering emails and going on Facebook and Twitter, all because I picked up my phone instead of going back to sleep.
当纽约时间是凌晨3:30时,特拉维夫正是上午10:30,这就是午夜醒来的大问题的原因。意思就是说每到午夜,我就会失眠,然后查收少则30余封的信件、短信和发送报告。不知怎地,我会不由自主地查看每条报告,直到彻底清醒,最后难以入睡。接二连三下去,我便猛然发现自己在回电邮,刷新Facebook和Twitter,这一切皆因我拿着手机而不是回到床上继续睡觉。