Lukas van de Coevering | In 2025, I will no longer let my phone rule my life
Six hours a day, Lukas van de Coevering spends on his phone, and it doesn’t exactly make him feel better. On the contrary. That’s why in 2025 he wants to let his life be determined less by algorithms. “Unconsciously, we are all living vicariously through other people, watching people do extraordinary things rather than actually doing them ourselves.”
Modern life is excellent. We have access to food from across the world, even in the coldest of winters. Illnesses and injuries that would have been fatal centuries ago are now minor inconveniences. We have more choices than ever regarding what we can do and an almost infinite internet of information to help us get there. We have it better than any time before.
However, when I’m doomscrolling without even getting out of bed in the morning, it really doesn't feel like everything is as good as it should be. There is another side to our hyper-advanced society. The content we are consuming is becoming more dumbed-down (watch US presidential debates from twenty years ago compared to those of today), our identities are shaped more by mass consumerism (fads everywhere), and we spend an inordinate amount of time on screens.
I spend around 6 hours of our day on my phones, mostly on social media. Instead of allowing me to connect with others and unwind, it leaves me feeling disconnected from the people on my feed and makes me feel worse about the simplicity of real life. Social media is a constant bombardment of only the best parts of everyone’s lives: the vacations in Southeast Asia and the crazy nights out. It gives the impression that everyone else is constantly having a great time, looking their best. Meanwhile, I am sitting in my room, staring at my phone.
Ironically, the people whose thrilling lives I envy based on their Instagram profiles probably spend more time scrolling themselves than actually doing the incredible things they post about. Unconsciously, we are all living vicariously through other people, watching people do extraordinary things rather than actually doing them ourselves. To truly understand how weird this is, just imagine if instead of scrolling on your phone to see the things you see on social media, you saw them in real life. In the span of 20 minutes you could see 20-40 performances by people that you often don't know about completely random things, all in front of you in your room. The act of using social media is downright bizarre.
The constant overstimulation of this online entertainment has fried my brain. It has made me expect that for something to be enjoyable, it has to be quick, easy, and novel. It has stopped me from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Reading is a drag, getting a hobby requires too much focus, and sitting in silence with nothing but my thoughts feels almost frightening. It has made the world more boring, and social media more interesting. I didn’t need or want social media before I started using it. It only relieves my boredom because I use it. People who don't use social media seem to be happier. It makes perfect sense too; online apps exist almost exclusively for corporations to make money off of people, so they want them to be as addictive as possible. To make it so tempting that you’ll spend as much time being on your phone as you do sleeping.
For my own sake, this year I will return to the real world and step away from the algorithms. I want to enjoy the sun in the morning rather than the blue light of my phone. I want to sleep peacefully rather than have my mind racing before bed. Most of all, I want to have control of my life. To have those 6 hours of the day to find out what I truly enjoy, not what my digital device wants to spoon feed me.
