Sophocles
The internet is vast. It is not going away. It has great potential for good. And yet…there is that problem of the curse.
It is not new news that unchecked technology use has led us and our kids into all sorts of problems. We sleep less, we trust less, we hate more, we feel anxious and depressed more, and we spend less time with our family, friends, and community. And those are just the tip of the iceberg of problems.
But what if the curses of the internet aren’t overly as complex and incomprehensible as they seem?
What if those who cursed us only wanted to profit from this new cyber world, and had no idea they would lead us to physical, social, and emotional issues? And what if the solutions to cyber-curses are simpler than we think?
Enter the terms of our tech-influenced lifetimes…. Resilience and Dysregulation.
Resilience is our ability to adapt or rebound quickly from change, illness,s and bad fortune. It is necessary for the high functioning that leads to community, purpose, health, and wealth.
Dysregulation is the activation of our fight-or-flight response when there is no immediate physical threat to our bodies…to the beat our heart…to our actual lives. It weakens resilience.
The many curses of technology can be simplified into one: the reduction of resilience because unchecked technology use dysregulates us.
Why does technology use dysregulate us? Because profit in the cyber world comes entirely through the ability to control our time and attention online.
The easiest way to control our time and attention in the cyber domain is to keep users in a constant state of dysregulation. The easiest way to dysregulate us is by using information about our technology use to make us afraid, angry, judgmental of others and critical of self.
The formula to break this cyber-curse is as free, easily accessible, and effective as the curse itself. It does not require us to stop using technology. It does require us to be stronger both while using technology and while living our lives outside of technology.
This formula:
- Become aware of when we are dysregulated.
- Desire to regulate.
- Know the many ways to regulate quickly.
That’s it. That is what CyberStrong is all about…. the cultivation of these three skills.