The Phone Dynasty: 21st Century’s Ruler

While I was doing the dishes, ‘beep beep’ — my phone was just a couple of feet away. Instantly, I looked at my phone. This made me think about how much my phone controls my attention span through interrupts(notifications).

“What would you define as a loyal and obedient dog ?” “Woof woof.” “Ruff ruff.” “Sit,” “Stay” — Bingo obeys these commands. Bingo is considered a loyal and obedient dog.

“Beep beep” — looks at phone — “beep beep” — looks at phone again. Who’s the real Bingo here?

Think of how often you click your devices, double tap your screen, scroll through TikTok, giggle at your screen, point your front camera at your face. It’s the 21st century, these devices have now become integral parts of our lives, controls your thoughts, plays tug of war with your conscience on what’s wrong & right. Heck, it’s even your boss.

What’s the best way to scold a 21st-century kid ? Discipline ? Nahh. Take their devices and watch how they fall in line.

What’s the best way to reward a 21st-century kid ? You guessed right, screen time!

How does all this affect Bingo ? Bingo starts her day, Bingo is Gen Z, Bingo is self-employed, Bingo has no Boss. False, Bingo has a boss. Her device! Her device controls her productivity, tells her when to look at it and rewards her, doesn’t tell her when not to.

Bingo has 10k photos, 5k videos, has accounts on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, Snapchat. Bingo has friends on all these platforms. Some, never met in life. Some referred by a friend of a friend. She spends an awful lot of 8hrs each day on these apps.

Welcome to her Social Dilemma. She wakes up in the morning, and her first instinct is picking up her device.

Creators of these devices do not help, and it’s not their job. Their job and goal are to make more money. Recently discovered how every time I wake up and I pick up my phone, notifications just start coming in even though I disabled WiFi connection before I went to bed.

Countless studies have shown that phone activity causes the release of dopamine in your brain, making you feel aroused and happy.

You do not control your phone; your phone controls you!

“Beep beep,” looks at the phone. “Beep beep,” looks at the phone again. “Someone just followed you on Instagram,” picks up the phone.

Welcome to the Phone dynasty. Ruler of the 21st century. Your highness!