03 July, 2011

The Paradox of our 'slavery' to technology

SOME IDEAS TO AVOID STRESS

Throughout the ages the sages and wise people have reminded us that paradox lies at the heart of all problems and all issues. In our modern World, and particularly in the West, we have managed to design and build a society that has more labour saving gadgets than ever, 24/7  communication by a variety of means and yet is seemingly suffering from a lot of over-stress.

Now stress is vital for our survival. In fact , the real meaning of 'distress' is rooted in de-stressed. That is the 1st paradox. The 2nd paradox is this ; how can we end up with so much stress when we live in a society that has so many labour saving devices. This is the 2nd paradox.   Perhaps some of the answers can be found  both in the wisdom teachings of the ancients and in modern advances in neuro - science.

In the past quarter of a century we have made great discoveries in neuro-science and neoro-psychology. We now also know so much more about the brains ability to grow and change and this ability is termed ' neuroplasticity'   We now know so much more about this. But I would like to focus on a couple of aspects and particularly on one aspect that could help us to understand some of the roots of our modern tendency to be over -worked and over-stressed.

As I mentioned before, we live in a frenzy of 24/7 instant communication. Perhaps it can more often result in mis-communication. We have the constant stimulus of phones, text, emails, satellite TV, computers, on-line papers etc.. What effect can this have on our neural pathways? Well is short, they can get over-activated. As we constantly respond to the barrage of information via technology, we are constantly firing neurons and creating more and more neural paths. This constant stimulation creates  many Motorway types paths in our brains and it can create a crisis in our neural systems a bit t like the 'traffic jams' that occur on most of our Motorways on Friday evenings or at Holiday Times.

The end result is a neural 'traffic jam' or, as our German friends say a 'stau zone' . So we get over-loaded. The resultant neuro crisis can then be transmitted to either cause a crisis at the physical or psychological levels. We get varied symptoms of stress and become fatigued, ill and inefficient. This leads to the 3rd tragic paradox. Instead of us letting technology become our servants, we become slaves or hostages to technology.

How can we begin to redress this issue and thus reach a more balanced place. The ancients reminded us of the value of taking time out to become more aware, to practice being mindful. Modern psychology  advises that we  begin to :
                              SLOW DOWN

                             CHANGE OUR HABITUAL ROUTINE

                             DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT


In part 2 I will continue this theme and look at another paradox of modern technology and modern man