On cellphones, parenting and feeling your emotions.

Mobile phones are everywhere! here’s some interesting and varied perspectives which might just change your relationship with your little friend.

The Comedian

Comedian Louis CK was on Conan recently and asked why he won’t give a phone to his children. In between wisecracks, many of his comments were incredibly sage.

I have written before (here & here) on how important it is to genuinely feel your emotions, it is a critical step to lasting happiness. If you feel sad, feel it; don’t shy away from it, squash it down with food & social media fixes, Feel it! After the sadness passes, (much quicker than you imagine) you will feel a genuine lightness and release.

I have also written before on how toxic mobile phones are when they pull us out of the moment, and prevent us from feeling, and how terribly dangerous when combined with a car. So I was pleasantly surprised to watch this link my husband sent me.

Don’t just take it from me. Here’s a comedian saying the same thing, with laughs of course.

http://teamcoco.com/video/louis-ck-springsteen-cell-phone

“I just tell them you can’t have it. I’m not there to make them happy. I’m not raising the children. I’m raising the adults they are going to be”

“Phones are toxic… You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. The ability to just sit there. That’s being a person…. Underneath everything there’s that thing, that forever empty.”

[adrotate banner=”4″]

The Tragic Reality

“People are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own because they don’t want to be alone for a second.” this one is particularly poignant after the 60 minutes story on the weekend about Sarah Durazza’s tragic and totally preventable death on the phone to her mother while driving.

“When the sadness comes, stay in the way of it and let it hit you like a truck, I pulled over and cried like a bitch, it was beautiful. Sadness is poetic, you are lucky to feel sad. Then there was this happiness… when you feel sad the antibodies come rushing in to meet the sadness. I was grateful to feel sad and then met it with true, genuine happiness. It was such a trip! The thing is, because we don’t want that first bit of sad, we push it away with a little phone wank, and you never feel completely sad, but you never feel completely happy either, you just kind of feel satisfied with your products, and then you die.”

The Artist

The next time that emotion threatens to overwhelm you, sit with it, let it live inside you, honour it, and see what happens.  Feel your feelings. Live your life. Please watch this poignant video. – I forgot my phone

For god’s sake turn your phone off sometimes, walk barefoot in a park and listen to the birds. And please, for Sarah and her family, turn it off when you’re driving, and I will too.