Brush your teeth! Check your notifications and don’t miss anything.

Everything started with technology… And ever since, life is in a big rush…

To begin with, checking your emails and answering them has become an inevitable habit.

Things like having to write:

“I am on the way and will return you back as soon as I get back to the agency”,

“It would take an hour, if it is urgent please call me …”  

After urgent emails comes checking social media platforms. Then following other people’s social media platforms. Later on, it’s time for checking out influencer platforms …

Then I realize I have two missed calls from my mom. I have to call her back ‘till night,

just in case, to let her know I’m not dead yet …

Meetings, setting new meetings, returning emails … Replies, and more replies …

They all pile up.

After all, I tell myself:

“Stop!”

Really, we have to slow down a little bit. We need to talk to each other not to forget our real abilities, what we really are.

But how can I? The clock alert of my phone is the starter of my daily life.

It wakes me up and reminds me of all these exhausting technological duties.

It whispers to me: “Check your notifications and don’t miss anything.”

As if I wake up to chase the same roller-coaster every day.

Because I know there are tons of unread emails and unchecked social media notifications waiting for me again.

And this load of new technological responsibilities has an illusional side to them:

They make us believe we are the centre of attention, the most important person in the world.

Hence, the serious-looking faces we see on the street every day, believing they are the most important people compared to 7 billion habitants of our planet.

But you only need to feel the splash of some cold water on your face to remember that you don’t have to be that attention centre. And missing the next social media notification will not end your life.

The way social media platforms changed our lives is radical. Now they determine the way we talk, behave, consume and live.

FOMO (fear of missing out) has become a norm of everyday life. The possibility of missing out something happening somewhere we have never been before is now one of our worst anxieties.

When you think you missed out, you don’t even want to step out of your home anymore. It feels like all the joy of life has abandoned you until you follow up. Since you think you don’t know where this knowledge is hidden, the desperation hurts you J

The daily life in the agency feels like the same morning feeling. The moment it begins, the questions arise: “Did you see the mail I sent you?”, “Are you attending the call at 4 pm?”

Again, we are chasing the same roller-coaster that never stops.

Then, you find yourself asking “what is the point of the chase after all?”

And if we avoid the rush, then what will be left in our hands? Will it show us the limits of our capabilities? Or will it enable us to discover our capabilities we have never known before?

I say let’s do a little detox. Let’s just slow down and listen to each other without any distractions. Let’s just remember what it was like to have a true conversation free of any digital screen flashing at us or notification vibrations. 

Burçak Günsev, Head of Customer Engagement and Commerce, Ogilvy Istanbul, Turkey