You Are Too Online: How Big Players Use Technology

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Our professional and personal lives are bombarded with technology. Work and personal communications largely rely on it, but if we’re candid, for many — it’s consumptive. 

Most embrace and welcome the immersion — but should you? 

Humans are moved by their own biology, so they chase the dopamine they get from interactions online — and it hits like a drug. What most don’t consider is the way technology drains their mental resources, their energy, their attention, and their focus. There is a cost to how we engage, and at what level we do so.

But one thing I’ve noticed is that the most successful people I work with use technology very differently.

They aren’t lining up to buy the newest iPhone; they don’t always have the coolest gadgets. They aren’t spending their life on Slack, and many don’t even have a social media account — unless, of course, it is important to what they do. 

They use technology as a tool, and it doesn’t dictate or control their life. Their life is lived primarily offline, and while much of their work uses technology (for communications, processes, reporting, marketing, etc.), they’re not “on it” 24/7. These aren’t people on the way up (though they are undoubtedly still growing), these are the largest in the sphere. These lessons are from the places many aspire to be — but you may not be there just yet. 

They use technology, but technology does not use them.

What if you used technology more sharply like a tool? How much more would you get done, and how would you even assess it? This week, I’m going to challenge you to look at the tech in your life differently and let’s talk about how to have it serve you and pull you closer to those who are in some of the highest seats.