Do you feel that technology was initially introduced to improve our lives but it secretly took over our lives? The truth is that we can now be termed as slaves of technology. The question is how did this happen in the first place.

Initially, technology was introduced to move our lives in the forward direction. There is no question about the fact that technology allows us to be faster and smarter. We all love to access this wonderful world of information in just a matter of seconds.

The technology has given us access to a stream of information and no wonder we can recall this information on our finger tips. It surely connects us to the vast world and promotes the element of efficiency so where did we go wrong?

Well, this technology lured us to the limit that using it has become more of an addictive experience for most of us and we just cannot think beyond it. To understand this element of slavery in a better way let us try to visualize the whole scenario.

Visualizing the Slavery towards This Luring Digital World

The interesting part is that most of us get to see this digital slavery every now and then. However, we just ignore when we witness such a sight. Usually, these slaves to the digital world are rolled up in quite a dark, quiet corner and their eyes are always darting around the computer screen.

Such people are so overpowered by their addiction that they have no idea themselves how long they have been sitting in front of the computer screen. In fact every household has one such individual who snaps when he is interrupted while watching celebrity news or any other favorite web portal of his choice.

These digital slaves actually forget what real life is all about. People who are using their laptops or gadgets 24/7 experience a major change in their lifestyle. Their mind becomes crafted for this lifestyle.

The biggest problem is that people who often end up misusing the technology are school students or young teenagers who forget the fact that playing games and interacting with the world is also an essential need of the time.

What most parents are oblivious to is that the technology that apparently seems to have so many benefits is killing the natural ability of the mind to develop. For example, you will often notice that people who live in isolation and contended with their computer addiction fail to match with the skills of others when it comes to practical life.

The people who live in isolation may not be able to reach venues on time because of weak navigation skills. The real reason is that they hardly leave their house. Such people are usually anxious even when they leave their house.

The reason is that their mind is pre-occupied by the thought that something exciting is happening on social media and they miss those events terribly. As a result they fail to focus on what is happening around them.

Tom Clancy’s quote perfectly defines this situation:

“It was one thing to use computers as a tool, quite another to let them do your thinking for you.”

This means somewhere there we are misusing technology and are responsible for our very own slavery. If we look at the facts, then the truth is that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are the most used platforms. As per the records of 2017 Facebook has over 2 billion active users.

Whatsapp stands second in the race and YouTube has about 1.5 billion active users. Now, we can well manage that this addiction towards the digital world is bound to increase with all the excitement that these platforms have to offer.

How Digital World Has Overpowered Our Lives

What most of us are unaware of is that we are compromising on the element of security when we are using these social media platforms but somehow we are just hooked to the platforms and cannot let go off them.

In most of the cases the social media platforms have access to data and pictures. We have no idea how this information is being used. This in particular is an alarming situation. Our privacy gets invaded using different psychological tricks and all of this happening without our consent.

The terrible part is that we all are becoming a race of isolation that is suffering from several health issues like backache weak eyesight and joint pain. The reason is that we have bid farewell to the real world.

What apparently seems quite clear is that this digital slavery is bound to increase in the near future. Many tech giants have new plans up their sleeves. For example, Uber, Google and Apple are already working on automated computer programs which will have the capability to modify the code base and alter the functions completely.

This means that now we can look forward to robot servants in the near future also. Though all these ideas sound pretty exciting but will the beauty of normal and natural life remain intact with these changes. The answer is surely no in this situation.

The biggest threat is that if these machines are left unsupervised then they can surely become a nightmare in this situation but it seems that we have closed our eyes to the reality. We are just eager to look at the perks of the technology and this is why the threat poses more threat to us.

It is fact that we cannot do without the gadgets and the technology is a dire need of the time. However, we need to devise smart ways to make use of this technology in an apt way so that we do not have to suffer any losses.

How to Escape the Digital Slavery

We need to bring about serious changes in our life if we are eager to escape the digital slavery. All this seems difficult but it is not impossible for sure. We will just list down a few changes that we can introduce in our life to fight this slavery.

Believe and Follow the Concept of Face To Face Contact

Have you noticed that we have developed this habit of sending emails to people who are in our vicinity? Well, we have to de-addict this robotic activity. It is time you get ready to demonstrate your communication skills by talking face to face with people.

This may sound difficult initially but it is not an impossible endeavor for sure. Remember you may be able to craft about 100 effective emails but a person who takes out constructive time to communicate with the boss still stands a better chance for a promotion.

Learn to Put Your Smartphone Down

Never allow your Smartphone to become your lifeline. This practice will surely benefit you in the long run. When you are having social outings with your co-workers, they are not quite interested in what you are receiving on your Smartphone.

If you need to use your Smartphone, then you need to have a valid reason to justify that use. It is not right that your focus should be on your vibrating phone all the time. Develop the habit to leave the Smartphone in your pocket or purse. It may take you sometime to reconcile with the idea that the phone does not need to be in your hand all the time but you will eventually learn and get over this.

Secondly, when you are about to go to bed, then make sure that you put your phone face down. The benefit of this practice is that you will not be enticed to look at the phone.

Trying Taking up One Task at a Time

Well many people may disagree with this school of thought because people are led by the thought that multi-tasking is the best solution but it is not the case for sure. When you are managing multiple tasks at a time, then your detail to attention vanishes because you are focused on so many things at the same time.

What most of us fail to see is that we can end up making irrational decisions when we are doing many tasks together. For example, you will often see people having 7 or 8 tabs open on their web browser.

This practice is never going to beneficial.

Use Technology to Get Rid of Bad Tech Habits

What is important is that you need to seek time management programs. For example, you can opt for programs like RescueTime. Such programs are quite helpful in giving you a clue about where your computer minutes go. This way you can easily limit your online time.

When you will spend time exploring time management programs, then you will not get the feel that you are not using your time in a smart way.

Define the Boundaries for Your Real Self and Technology

Now, you do need to define a day in your life where you are not strongly involved in the e-world. For example, you can start your day by having a cup of coffee rather than starting the day by looking at your emails.

If you have to check mails, then define a rule for this process also. For example, you should make it a point not to check your emails after 2:00 am. Try not to plug your devices next to your bed. The benefit of this practice is that if the devices are closer to you, then you will be keener to have a look at your devices and may end up surfing the device instead of catching up on the much needed sleep at night.

Apart from this you need to dig down healthy activities for yourself if you do not want to be a technology slave. For example, you should take out sometime to indulge in meditation. There is no denying the fact that meditation can truly have a positive effect on your soul and your body.

In fact you should make meditation a part of your daily routine. This way you will be focused to focus on yourself for a while. You can also define a walking routine. For example, you should make it a point to walk about 30 minutes every day.

The interesting thing about walking is that you cannot manage checking your mails or texting people when you are on the move. The reason is that this is not a comfortable position. This is yet another effective way to put a forceful stop to your digital slavery.

The simple conclusion that we reach here is that self-discipline is the key to fighting the slavery towards the digital world. It is very well in our control. The important thing is that when you feel that you are developing an addiction towards technology you need to stop at that point of time. In short the evil should be nipped in the bud.

You should not allow your addiction to prosper as it can truly harm you in the long run. Restrict yourself to attaining the benefits of technology. You should set the same rules for your children as well.

For example, you should define a time span for using Facebook and other social media platforms for your children. This way their curiosity about these platforms will be satisfied and at the same time the time restriction will help to avoid addiction.

We already have popular respected personalities who have taken their steps to avoid slavery towards technology. Prince Williams and Kate Middleton do not encourage their children to use iPads. In fact they strongly believe in traditional outdoor playtime to harness the skills of their children so they can be considered role models in this regard.

If we think deeply, then none of us want human like intelligence. We as humans take pride in being the most evolved species. If we want to retain this title we need to bring a halt to the technology dominance and define the boundaries so that we are not termed as slaves of the digital world in the 21st century.