Episode 174: Lower Your Phone to Lift Your Life

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. I want to— I want to ask you a question. Do you realize that the person that could change your life, the love of your life, the best conversation you've ever had in your life, the person that was going to lead you to the job of your dreams, to finance your company, to give you that role in Hollywood in a movie, to put you on that dance company, to put you on that basketball team, to achieve your dream and your goal. Do you realize that person just walked by you while you had your head down looking at your mobile phone? Do you realize that? Let me tell you a story. I was in the train recently, and as I entered the train car, I told myself, just as the train door was opening, I said, let me put away my mobile phone. Let me get on this train. No mobile phone. I'm gonna stand up, get some exercise, stretch, and just enjoy people watching, right? I get on the train. Find a spot, and I look down the car, and everyone has that hunch. They're sitting down, no one's standing up because it's healthy, right? We're supposed to stand up for 2 hours a day, that's to, to, to stretch the spine. But everyone's sitting down, and there's more than enough— this is an empty train— and they're all hunched over looking at their mobile phone. Every single person in the train. I look down further to see the next car, As far as I could see, everyone was hunched over. No one was paying attention to where they were. No one was paying attention to the person next to them, the person walking by, the people coming in and off the train. Why is that important? Think back. Think back to before mobile phones, and some of you probably don't— weren't alive back then, but before mobile phones, you got on a train or a bus, it doesn't matter. People were probably reading a newspaper, and if they weren't reading the newspaper, they were looking outside the window, enjoying the view. Today, I have to ask myself the question, why do we even still include windows on trains and buses when everyone has their head stuck into a mobile phone? And when these virtual reality glasses, which are on the market, when they come affordable and everybody really has them, Do you— we even need windows on buses, trains, autonomous cars? Do you realize how much of life you're missing? All the stories, all the books you read, fantasy novels, people's autobiographies, are all based on— I was someplace and I ran into this person, I tripped, this person helped me up, I went into this store, I met this person, I was in school, I talked to this person, I attended a movie theater and I met this person. All that will never happen in your life. Never. You will not meet anybody because you're not even attending any of these events. You're not going anyplace. Your head is stuck down in your mobile phone all the time. And if it's not stuck in your mobile phone all the time, you're going to be defensive. No, no, that's not me. It's not all the time. For every minute, for every time, for every location that you put your head down and you got that hunch— yes, you have that hunch— and you're looking at your mobile phone instead of looking around you, the people around you, enjoying nature, enjoying the sights and sounds of the train, the bus, whatever you're sitting on, maybe you're on a horse and a carriage, if you're not paying attention to that, you're missing life. You're missing life's moments. You're missing the people who maybe would have given you a smile that could have made your day, made your moment, give you the love. Maybe that person is looking across and saying, why don't you look up so I could look at you and smile at you because I think you're so cute. You miss that when you go home and you're saying, why me? I'm so lonely. Because that person across from you today who was staring at you for 20 minutes, you never lift your head up. You found it more entertaining to be in your damn mobile phone. The train ride took 20 minutes. People came on and off. The people who were in the car for the 20 minutes never lifted their head once. The people who came on the train, every single person sat down. No one wanted to stand up. It was an empty train. There was plenty of room to stand, plenty of room to sit. Everybody chose to sit. And 100% of them took out their mobile phone, did the hunchback, and stuck their heads in the phone. No one experienced anyone else. The same experience you have when you're at home sitting in the bathroom toilet on your mobile phone is the same exact experience you're experiencing when you're in public on a bus or a train. You're just sitting on the toilet. I'm trying to ruin it for you. Every time you take out your mobile phone in public and you look down at it, you're assuming the same damn position that you do on the toilet. Do you understand? It's a waste. You're wasting your life. You're wasting precious moments. You're wasting other people's time who want to connect with you, who want to be a part of your life. You're wasting the precious moments you have to see a bird flying in the sky, to see the sunset or the sun come up, to see a child coming out of kindergarten and running into their parents' arms with this smile reeking love, pure, unfiltered love. You're missing that because your head is buried in that damn mobile phone. The reason why you and many other people are coming home or going to work and feeling unhappy is because you're missing life. Life is about love and is about sharing with other people. It's not about be stuck in a damn mobile phone. Yes, you're experiencing life. You're experiencing— let me break it down— what you're experiencing is someone who's probably very talented, put in a lot of time to curate the audio and video and every single frame and every single sound perfectly so that that video is entertaining enough that it gets tons of views so that it gets enough views. It's got to get at least 10,000 views so that person could start generating a couple of cents. As you get 100,000 views, couple of dollars, and so on and so on. That person put in a lot of work for the few seconds you're watching. It's a give and a take. You get entertainment, they make some money. Good. You give them their— your attention, you take away from your life. There's a time and a place to be entertained. And that should be when you've done everything else you're supposed to do in the day. And that's called living life. And that's called falling in love. And that's called communicating with other people. And that's called taking care of one another. That's called taking your hand and putting it on the back of someone and rubbing it and saying, everything's going to be okay. Shaking someone's hand, picking up a napkin and give it to someone when they drop something or they spill something. But none of those things you've done today, have you? You probably think I'm a weirdo, but that was because your head was in the mobile phone. And if you'd have not been in a mobile phone, you'd realize the per— the old woman next to you could have used a hand up because she dropped something and her back hurt, or his back hurt, it doesn't matter. And they would need help. You could have helped them pick that thing up, but no, they had a struggle, but you didn't see that. You didn't see the person whose dog ran away off the leash, and the dog ran right by you, and you could have helped that person. You didn't see that. You didn't see the person that was staring at you, the person that was so desperate to get eye contact with you, the person that just wanted to share a moment with you. You didn't see that either. Let me ask you a question. Do you feel like you had a good day today now? Every moment you spend with your head buried in a mobile phone, you're not living life. It's as if you just stopped time, but the clock is ticking and nothing's happening other than you being entertained. But has anything happened that's benefiting you while you're being detained other than you're laughing or you're killing time? No. Is tomorrow going to be the same thing as today? Yeah. Is tomorrow going to be the same as yesterday? Yeah. Did you do anything to change your life? No. Did you do anything to better your life? No. Put down the mobile phone and jump back into the life that you have. The gift that you have to breathe. When's the last time you took a deep breath? The last time— when's the last time you looked around you and noticed all the different colors of the clothes that people have on? Look at people's different shoes. Why is this person wearing that shoe? Why is that person wearing sandals in the snow outside? It's always funny. Have you noticed? Have you noticed people's hairstyles? Have you noticed people's earrings? What have you noticed about people? Or this, what I'm saying is just so foreign to you, like, what, noticing people? This is what we do as human beings. It's called people watching. It's about getting a cup of tea or hot chocolate or a cup of coffee or your espresso, sitting on a table outside, sipping it and just watching traffic and watching people go by. It's fantastic. It is what human beings been doing for tens of thousands of years. Watching each other, learning from each other, and embracing each other directly, indirectly. Saving people's lives, because in that moment you saw that the person about to hit by a car, you put down your espresso, you run, you pull them out of the way, you save their life. Have a friend for life. But you didn't see that because you're hunched over looking at your mobile phone, coming with the excuse that TikTok, social media, LinkedIn, email, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Walt Disney Channel, whatever It's important. Aren't you important? Isn't you getting the most out of every moment of your life and every day important? Go forth and spread beauty and light. And you do that by experiencing life, by looking at people, looking in their eyes, laughing with them, smiling with them, helping them out, getting out of their way and letting them go by if they're lifting some heavy bags that, you know, or box or something. But if you got your head in the mobile phone, you're gonna run into them, you're gonna inconvenience them, and you're gonna piss them off when you could actually been a savior. You'd actually help them with the box or with the groceries or something, but instead you just ran them basically over. Or the worst case, you didn't even see them. Your chance to help another person, your chance to bond with someone, you missed because your head's in your mobile phone. Live life. That's why you're here. Think about it. And then just don't take out your damn mobile phone unless you need to make a phone call. I'm Thomas Anglero, reflecting on a single moment that happened while I entered the train today. What's going to happen to you tomorrow when you don't take out your mobile phone? When you go to those places that you always do, waiting at the bus stop, waiting for the train, in school, you know what's going to happen? Life's going to happen. And it's going to be incredible. I'm so happy for you. I love you. Until next time. Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.