51. The Problem With Our Phones
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I am now vaccinated against The Virus! It took all of 7 minutes from start to finish (Love the NHS) and I *may* have sobbed like a baby during the entire process out of pure, unadulterated gratitude and a life-long appreciation for science.
Anyhoo, here’s five things that are nowhere near as interesting and/or meaningful as the aforementioned, but here you go.
1. The problem with our phones
This short video narrated by School of Life’s Alain de Botton is worth a watch. Phone addiction cannot be ignored and it’s becoming scientifically clear that the mental health impacts of this are alarming.
Phone Detox
A tool to bring sanity to our most intense technological relationship.
The dark truth is that it has become very hard to find anyone (and certainly anything) more interesting than one’s smartphone. This perplexing and troubling realisation has for most of us had huge consequences for our love stories, family lives, work, leisure time and health.
This is why we have created Phone Detox, a palm-sized book filled with insights, ideas and meditations about the complex relationship we have with our phones.
Loving this from their shop too.
On Reacquainting With Yourself
"We have to check our phones, of course, but we also need to engage directly with others, to be relaxed, immersed in nature and present. We need to let our minds wander off of their own accord. We need to go through the threshold of boredom to renew our acquaintance with ourselves."– Extract from Emotional First Aid Kit
Here’s 10 tips to help you beat smartphone addiction:
Don't use your phone in bed.
Get a real alarm clock.
Make meals a phone-free zone.
Turn off notifications.
Delete unnecessary apps.
Complicate your lock code.
Focus on the person you're talking to.
Put your phone on airplane mode.
Have a phone-free day once a week
Take it slow. Not all habits are broken overnight.
This book is small but powerful.
If you have the time, I recommend this longer newsletter post by Emma Gannon titled The Great Logging Off.
“Many friends of mine are leaving the Internet. Twitter is full of goodbyes and declarations for a better life. The reasons for leaving are wide-ranging, not only because of the data collecting, information mining or cookies (I suppose many of us have come to terms with that) but mainly because it’s become an unbearable place to hang out. Whether it’s feeling bored of being constantly sold to; or told off, or told what to think, or aspirational people inviting you to watch tours of their million pound ‘forever homes’ on the day your boiler packs up, or simply because it feels overwhelming, uncreative or stale to have to think of something to post every day.”
2. Five Ways to Build Resilience and Conquer Adversity
This great post by Mark Manson.
“Being resilient doesn't mean feeling good all the time—it means you're okay with feeling bad sometimes.”
It’s 22mins to read so here’s the 5 points if you’re in a hurry:
1. Care about something other than yourself (for once)
2. Focus on what you can control
3. Inward optimism; outward pessimism
4. Find your inner masochist
5. Never suffer alone
You want a strong network of relationships because when life comes along and knocks you on your ass — and trust me, it will knock you on your ass — you want an emotional safety net of people who can step in and share a bit of the emotional burden with you.
And if life is fucking great and you’re kicking ass right now — awesome! But use this time to build those connections, to share in the ass-kicking goodness, to diversify your emotional investments and create that support network. Because the good times never last. And the next time a crash comes, the last thing you want is to be down in the hole, all alone.
3. The British Museum Is Full of Stolen Artifacts
Well, well, well. Turns out that the history they taught us out there in the colonies may not have actually been the full story.
The Benin Bronzes - stolen from Nigeria by Britain.
The British Museum contains hundreds of contested items, the spoils of the British Empire’s reach (and smash n’ grab) across the globe. Some of the museum’s most popular and prized items are included: the Parthenon Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the Benin Bronzes. The countries from which these artifacts were taken are increasingly asking for their return.
Some of the world’s greatest cultural and historical treasures are housed in London’s British Museum, and a significant number of them were taken during Britain’s centuries-long imperial rule. In recent years, many of the countries missing their cultural heritage have been asking for some of these items back.
Benin City in Nigeria is one of those places. They’ve been calling for the return of the Benin Bronzes, hundreds of artifacts looted in 1897 when British soldiers embarked a punitive expedition to Benin. Many are now housed in the British Museum.
And it’s just the beginning. As the world reckons with the damage inflicted during Europe’s colonial global takeover, the calls for these items to be returned are getting louder and louder.
4. On street art
Camille Walala has this week unveiled a new public artwork made up of two joyful pedestrian crossings and seven striking murals, all featuring her famous geometric patterns, interesting shapes and use of primary colours.
Called Les Jumeaux, which translates as The Twins, Camille has transformed the crossings on South Africa Road and Wood Lane at White City Place in West London, while her murals adorn the façade of the local WestWorks building.
5. A quote
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”
― George Orwell
See you next Sunday.
Wonderful! I'm now craving a trip to Umbria..