365QOD- Day1102

Pavlov’s Phone

“…and then he would ring the bell and the dogs would salivate without the meat.”- my recall of the story

Ivan Pavlov was a 19^th century physiologist who worked with dogs to demonstrate the effects of classical conditioning.  In his experiments he would present dogs with a food while ringing a buzzer at the same time initiated the dogs to salivate.  The dog, over time, starts associating the food with the buzzer.  Eventually when the buzzer is sounded the dog starts to salivate whether there is food or not because the dog expects it to show up.

What made me think about this story is how we have become like Pavlov’s dogs when it comes to our phones.  It is hard not to notice the similarities.  I believe that most of us associate the incoming call or text with some pleasurable response that we find hard to ignore.  If a phone buzzes we go into a state of anxiety that we come out of once we know who is trying to communicate with us and we answer.  What is very interesting is the feeling that we must immediately respond to the buzzing.

Test yourself next time your phone buzzes.  Observe how your body reacts and try to ignore the call.  I promise you that the world will be OK if you are not available 24/7 (24 hours seven days a week).    How does it feel?  Are you stressed that you did not answer it?  Worried that you are missing out on something?  I believe that most people feel that way.

I believe that by responding on your own terms you will break the conditioning pattern.  The loop consists of the buzzer(stimulus), the repeated pattern(you rushing to answer  the noise), and reward(you feel connected).  Create another loop such as: if buzzer rings(stimulus), you start counting till 100, take and release 10 deep breaths, and when it is convenient answer the phone.

Can you do that?

Today’s question is:

“How addicted are you to the buzzer?”