Put down your phone and engage in boredom - how philosophy can help with digital overload

"It feels like there are so many things constantly vying for our attention: the sharp buzz of the phone, the low hum of social media, the unrelenting flood of emails, the endless carousel of content. It's a familiar and almost universal ailment in our digital age. Our lives are punctuated by constant stimulation, and moments of real stillness - the kind where the mind wanders without a destination - have become rare."

"Heidegger argued that modern technology is not simply a collection of tools, but a way of revealing - a framework in which the world appears primarily as a resource, including the human body and mind, to be used for content. In the same way, platforms are also part of this resource, and one that shapes what appears, how it appears, and how we orient ourselves toward life."

"Digital culture revolves around speed, visibility, algorithmic selection, and the compulsive generation of content. Life increasingly mirrors the logic of the feed: constantly updating, always "now" and allergic to slowness, silence and stillness. What digital platforms take away is more than just our attention being "continuously partial" - they also limit the deeper kind of reflection that allows us to engage with life and ourselves fully. They make us lose the capacity to inhabit silence and confront the unfill"

Digital life constantly competes for attention through notifications, social media, emails, and endless content, producing near-constant stimulation and rare moments of true stillness. Platforms present apparent freedom and self-expression while subtly coercing users toward distraction, visibility, and engagement as obligations. Martin Heidegger's analysis characterizes modern technology as a mode of revealing that frames the world as a resource, including human bodies and minds, to be used for content. Platforms adopt that resource logic, shaping what appears and how people orient toward life. The feed's speed, visibility, and algorithmic selection shorten attention spans and undermine silence, slowness, and deep reflection. The result is a diminished capacity to inhabit silence and sustain deeper reflection that engages life and self fully.

Read at The Conversation