佛教视角看科技成瘾与中年分心问题

英文原文

I asked a 35-year-old Kadampa the other day how many meditating Millennial friends he has, and how many he thinks might become meditation teachers to take over and keep things going into the future. The answer is some, but not as many as he’d like. Why? “We were the first generation on Smartphones (invented 2007) and it has rotted our brains.” He spent the years between 8 and 13 addicted to video games to the tune of 10 hours a day, and the next 7 years addicted to other things. Then, to his immense relief, he found Dharma; and it has saved his life. I’m no stranger to the internet, obviously, who is these days. But he was explaining that the online world is not just somewhere you visit (as I generally feel that I do), but part of that generation’s mandala, part of their interior landscape. It is hard to break out of it; it is the air they breathe. There is that insistent voice in their heads that never really goes away: “Check the phone.” When I was in my twenties at Madhyamaka Centre, we had one (yes, one) landline phone for 40 people – Smartphones were not even a twinkle in IBM’s eye. If Geshe-la needed to talk to someone back then, he would have to take his chances along with everyone else! People would be pleasantly surprised when they picked up the phone. And I don’t feel that old – man, life goes fast. I was talking to another old fogey the other day about the huge rise in reported anxiety of people in their twenties. Being in one’s twenties doesn’t seem to be as much fun as it used to – but isn’t our twenties the time we’re supposed to be having fun, while we’re still gorgeous, optimistic, and energetic?! Back in the day, he was saying, people that young with anxiety and mental illness were the exception, not the rule. Perhaps I’m wearing rose-tinted glasses, and I know there were still plenty of problems; but I remember it that way too. Look, I know I’m generalizing, but you have to admit that something is up, even over and above the relentlessly disturbing daily headlines. Also, let alone the need to address the anxiety, addiction, and social isolation of everyone under 40, what has to happen for the average Millennial and Gen Z’er to find the wherewithal to put enough hours into meditation? Not to mention the profound and vast Kadam Dharma of modern Buddhism that leads to lasting freedom and enlightenment? I have to admit, this is a question that plays on my mind. The infinite scroll This would also appear to be nothing compared to beleagured Gen Z and, fast on their heels, Gen A (quick question, why did we start this naming system at X?!) During a long trafficky drive recently from Manhattan to the Hamptons up the Long Island Expressway, I had a conversation with the mother of a 16-year-old. This girl has often complained, “I wish I hadn’t been born into a world dominated by phones!” but still finds it impossible to put the phone down – her social life would apparently evaporate overnight. I learned a couple of very sinister things about Snapchat in particular, which I’ll now express dismay over, like the old timer that I am. Snapchat involves a system of social pressure that is hard to escape from without feeling like you are rejecting or being rejected by your peers. First off, the geo-tagging, where you always know where your friends are and vice versa. To turn it off is to snub people, something reserved for break ups. Being unreachable is suspicious or rude, as opposed to just normal. This makes privacy feel like secrecy rather than a basic need. The other is “streaks”, when you have to send each other pictures at least once every 24 hours, forever, and the more pictures the better, turning friendships into obligations. I asked J how many streaks her daughter has to sustain to stay current with her friend group, and she replied, “around 40”. It’s a full-time job to stay in the game and socially relevant. It is not even done to send one picture to all 40 of them – that is also a snub. Welcome to the infinite scroll with immediate feedback – every Snap or social media Like gives us a fleeting moment of pleasure that quickly fades, leading to withdrawal and the seeking of another hit. This is the suffering of change sped up. The suffering of change We’re in an attention economy where companies’ bottom line depends upon the volume of engagement, meaning they’ve deliberately designed the apps to be frictionless – any pauses are not long enough for us to switch our attention, get up, and do something else. The FOMO keeps us hooked too – if I stop now, can I afford to miss that hilarious cat video on the next screen?! Even if part of us wants to stop, we can’t get up from that sofa. Immersed in social media or binge watching or video games, two, three, four hours can go by in a blur. We can stay up way too late into the night, thus impacting our next day as well – which can be a real problem as a meditator because we need those early mornings for meditation before work. Meanwhile, what have we accomplished or even really enjoyed in that time? Like slot machines in windowless exit-less casinos where people lose track of time, users everywhere you look are being kept hooked. (I write about that here: Can attachment ever work?) All of a sudden we notice we’ve been scrolling for ages and we’re like, hang on, what have I been doing?! Where am I?! What time is it?! I don’t know how companies are allowed in particular to do this to young brains, wiring them into addiction, but they seem to be getting away with it. Companies are clearly creating compulsions, rewarding frequent engagement with social validation and punishing unavailability with FOMO. However, it’s not that hard to tap into our attachments – we are, as Buddha said, beings of the desire realm who rarely forget our objects of desire. But you can never switch off in this world. You can never enjoy the privacy of your own thoughts, at least for very long, because the programs demand attention and obeisance. And with every moment documented, shared, and responded to, mental space and solitude become unnatural and hard to come by. The loneliness epidemic We call it “social” media, but we are mainly talking to our screens, aren’t we? It’s arguably asocial. And we can keep going indefinitely because there are no interruptions. There is no eye contact. Don’t you find it insidious that we can all be in the same room, seemingly together; but everyone is going down their own rabbit holes, with few social cues for stopping. And through all the surface chatter and emojis, how do we create meaningful relationships or even have long actual conversations? Snapchat promises connection but delivers superficial transactions. Friendship becomes a daily task rather than a choice – streaks forcing people to interact out of habit rather than genuine interest. Constantly subject to everyone’s updates, it is easy to feel FOMO or insecurity about one’s place in a group. Beyond school, where you still theoretically have to see people IRL, there is less person to person contact – such that younger people are apparently even dating less (wasting all those hormones!) If you are used to instant responses, face to face conversations can feel slow or even awkward. Constant messaging leaves no room for self-reflection or deep thinking – and without self-knowledge, how can we know others? Is resistance futile? Bar throwing the phones away or moving to a desert island with no internet connection, what can be done about this? I think we all know that meditation and mindfulness are a powerful antidote to the compulsive nature of social media but, in this climate, how can people get into meditation in the first place? Some ideas coming up in the next article, but please share your own in the comments to help me out. Is resistance futile? No, of course not. But I think we have to want to cut this attachment by seeing its faults, which is why I am laboring the point. And I am doing it for myself as much as for you. For although I may not be a full on addict (just an addict relative to, say, 20 years ago), I scroll away far more than I want to. And I always love it when I spend eg, a day or even half a day without being online. I did a 6-day silent retreat at the KMC NY temple in November. Our tech boundary (a modern boundary on top of the 3 traditional boundaries of body, speech, and mind) was to use the phones only once a day for up to an hour for essential stuff. People found the experience unbelievable. The concentration and the joy! The creativity and interesting thoughts. The depth and connection. No amount of miniseries, streaks, or likes could ever begin to compete. It’s a different world. There’s no point me smugly thinking, “Ah, well, at least I’m not addicted to Snapchat. It’s not so bad.” Any tech addiction is bad when it comes to our ability to meditate and gain realizations. In Portugal in 2009, Geshe Kelsang pleaded with us to overcome our distractions; they are our worst enemy. Here’s your cat fix for the day For those of you seeking liberation from samsara’s bad dreams, is your phone helping you to wake up and get out of here? For the budding Bodhisattvas amongst you, does your phone help you with your bodhichitta and six perfections? For the wannabe Tantric practitioners amongst you, does your phone help with divine pride, clear appearance, or meditation on the indestructible drop? If the answer is yes, then please keep going. Life is short, so what are we going to do in our remaining days? My most recent foster cat is a tiny little thing, just a year old, a teenage mom whose four even tinier kittens have just been adopted. Like any cat, she can expect to live no more than around 20 years. And it suddenly struck me that I too only have the remaining lifespan of, give or take, a cat. That is not very long at all to do all the things I want to do, including attaining enlightenment. If I am not prioritizing my study and meditation practice now, when do I expect to get around to it? As Venerable Geshe-la says in Request to the Lord of all Lineages: Yet my breath is like mist about to vanish And my life is like a candle flame about to die in the wind. Since there is no guarantee I will not die today, Now is the only time to take the real meaning of human life, the attainment of enlightenment. Some solutions in this next article: Buddhist tips for the digital age. And would love to hear yours.

中文翻译

前几天我问一位35岁的噶当巴，他有多少冥想的朋友是千禧一代，又有多少人可能成为冥想老师来接手并让事情持续到未来。答案是有一些，但不如他希望的那么多。为什么？“我们是第一代使用智能手机的人（发明于2007年），它腐蚀了我们的大脑。”他在8到13岁之间沉迷于电子游戏，每天长达10小时，接下来的7年又沉迷于其他事物。然后，他如释重负地找到了佛法；这拯救了他的生命。 我对互联网并不陌生，显然，如今谁不是呢？但他解释说，网络世界不仅仅是你访问的地方（就像我通常感觉的那样），而是那一代人曼荼罗的一部分，是他们内心景观的一部分。很难从中挣脱；它是他们呼吸的空气。他们脑海中有一个固执的声音从未真正消失：“检查手机。” 当我在二十多岁时在马德亚马卡中心，我们40个人只有一部（是的，一部）座机电话——智能手机甚至还没在IBM的眼中闪烁。如果格西拉那时需要和某人通话，他必须和其他人一样碰运气！人们拿起电话时会感到惊喜。我并不觉得自己那么老——天哪，生活过得真快。 前几天我和另一个老古董谈论了二十多岁人群报告的焦虑大幅上升。二十多岁似乎不像过去那么有趣了——但二十多岁不正是我们应该享受乐趣的时候吗，当我们仍然美丽、乐观、充满活力时？！他说，在过去，那么年轻就有焦虑和精神疾病的人是例外，而不是常态。也许我戴着玫瑰色眼镜，我知道仍然有很多问题；但我也记得是这样。 听着，我知道我在概括，但你必须承认有些事情不对劲，甚至超过了那些无休止的令人不安的每日头条。 此外，更不用说需要解决40岁以下每个人的焦虑、成瘾和社交孤立了，普通千禧一代和Z世代需要发生什么才能找到足够的时间投入冥想？更不用说导致持久自由和觉悟的现代佛教的深广噶当佛法了？我必须承认，这个问题一直萦绕在我的脑海中。 无限滚动 与受困扰的Z世代相比，这似乎不算什么，紧随其后的是A世代（快速问题，为什么我们从X开始这个命名系统？！）最近在一次从曼哈顿到汉普顿的长岛高速公路上漫长的拥堵驾驶中，我和一位16岁女孩的母亲交谈。这个女孩经常抱怨，“我希望我没有出生在一个被手机主导的世界！”但仍然发现不可能放下手机——她的社交生活显然会在一夜之间蒸发。 我了解到一些关于Snapchat的非常险恶的事情，我现在要对此表示沮丧，就像我这个老古董一样。Snapchat涉及一个难以逃脱的社会压力系统，不感到你在拒绝或被同龄人拒绝。首先，地理位置标签，你总是知道你的朋友在哪里，反之亦然。关闭它就是在冷落别人，这是分手时才做的事。无法联系是可疑或无礼的，而不是正常的。这使得隐私感觉像是秘密，而不是基本需求。 另一个是“连续记录”，你必须至少每24小时互相发送一次图片，永远如此，图片越多越好，将友谊变成义务。我问J她的女儿需要维持多少连续记录才能跟上她的朋友圈，她回答说，“大约40个”。保持游戏状态和社会相关性是一份全职工作。甚至不能向所有40个人发送一张图片——那也是一种冷落。 欢迎来到即时反馈的无限滚动——每一个Snap或社交媒体点赞都给我们带来短暂的快乐，迅速消退，导致戒断并寻求下一次刺激。这是加速的变化之苦。 变化之苦 我们处在一个注意力经济中，公司的底线取决于参与量，这意味着他们故意设计应用程序无摩擦——任何停顿都不足以让我们转移注意力、起身做其他事情。FOMO也让我们上瘾——如果我现在停止，我能错过下一个屏幕上那个搞笑的猫视频吗？！即使我们部分想停止，我们也无法从沙发上起身。沉浸在社交媒体、刷剧或电子游戏中，两、三、四个小时可以模糊地过去。我们可以熬夜到很晚，从而影响第二天——这对冥想者来说可能是一个真正的问题，因为我们需要那些清晨在工作前冥想。同时，在那段时间里我们完成了什么或真正享受了什么？ 就像无窗无出口赌场里的老虎机，人们失去时间感，你到处看到的用户都被保持上瘾。（我在这里写过：依恋能起作用吗？）突然我们注意到我们已经滚动很久了，我们就像，等等，我一直在做什么？！我在哪里？！现在几点了？！ 我不知道公司如何被允许对年轻大脑这样做，将他们连接到成瘾，但他们似乎逃脱了惩罚。公司显然在制造强迫行为，用社会验证奖励频繁参与，用FOMO惩罚不可用性。然而，触动我们的依恋并不难——正如佛陀所说，我们是欲界众生，很少忘记我们的欲望对象。但在这个世界上你永远无法关闭。你永远无法享受自己思想的隐私，至少很长时间不能，因为程序要求注意和服从。随着每一刻被记录、分享和回应，心理空间和独处变得不自然且难以获得。 孤独流行病 我们称之为“社交”媒体，但我们主要是在和屏幕说话，不是吗？可以说是反社会的。我们可以无限期地继续，因为没有中断。没有眼神接触。你不觉得这很阴险吗，我们都可以在同一个房间里，看似在一起；但每个人都在走自己的兔子洞，很少有停止的社会线索。 通过所有表面的闲聊和表情符号，我们如何建立有意义的关系，甚至进行长时间的实际对话？Snapchat承诺连接但提供肤浅的交易。友谊变成日常任务而不是选择——连续记录强迫人们出于习惯而不是真正兴趣互动。不断受到每个人的更新影响，很容易感到FOMO或对自己在群体中的地位不安全。除了学校，理论上你仍然必须亲自见人，人与人之间的接触更少——以至于年轻人显然甚至约会更少（浪费所有那些激素！）如果你习惯了即时回应，面对面对话可能感觉缓慢甚至尴尬。不断的信息传递没有自我反思或深入思考的空间——没有自我认识，我们如何了解他人？ 抵抗是徒劳的吗？ 除了扔掉手机或搬到没有互联网连接的荒岛，我们能对此做什么？我想我们都知道冥想和正念是社交媒体强迫性的强大解药，但在这种环境下，人们首先如何开始冥想？下一篇文章中会有一些想法，但请在评论中分享你自己的想法来帮助我。 抵抗是徒劳的吗？不，当然不是。但我想我们必须通过看到它的缺点来切断这种依恋，这就是为什么我费力地强调这一点。我为自己做这件事，也为你做。因为虽然我可能不是一个完全的成瘾者（只是相对于，比如20年前），但我滚动的次数远远超过我想要的程度。当我花一天甚至半天不上网时，我总是很喜欢。 11月我在纽约KMC寺庙进行了一次6天的静修。我们的科技边界（在身体、语言和心灵三个传统边界之上的现代边界）是每天只使用手机一次，最多一小时，用于必要的事情。人们发现这种体验难以置信。专注和快乐！创造力和有趣的想法。深度和连接。再多的迷你剧、连续记录或点赞都无法竞争。这是一个不同的世界。 我沾沾自喜地想，“啊，好吧，至少我没有对Snapchat上瘾。没那么糟。”任何科技成瘾在涉及我们冥想和获得觉悟的能力时都是坏的。2009年在葡萄牙，格西·凯桑恳求我们克服分心；它们是我们最坏的敌人。 这是你今天的猫修复 对于那些寻求从轮回的噩梦中解脱的人，你的手机帮助你醒来并离开这里吗？对于你们中萌芽的菩萨，你的手机帮助你发展菩提心和六度吗？对于你们中想成为密宗修行者的人，你的手机帮助你发展神圣自豪、清晰显现或对不坏点的冥想吗？如果答案是肯定的，那么请继续。 生命短暂，所以在剩下的日子里我们要做什么？我最近寄养的猫是一个小东西，只有一岁，一个十几岁的妈妈，她的四只更小的猫刚刚被收养。像任何猫一样，她预计寿命不超过20年左右。我突然想到，我也只有大约一只猫的剩余寿命。这根本不足以做所有我想做的事情，包括证悟。如果我现在不优先考虑我的学习和冥想实践，我期望什么时候去做？正如尊贵的格西拉在《请求一切传承之主》中所说： 然而我的呼吸像即将消失的薄雾 我的生命像风中即将熄灭的烛火。 既然不能保证我今天不会死， 现在是唯一的时间来获取人生的真正意义，证悟。 下一篇文章中的一些解决方案：数字时代的佛教技巧。很想听听你的。

文章概要

本文从佛教视角探讨了科技成瘾，特别是智能手机和社交媒体对现代人，尤其是千禧一代和Z世代的影响。作者通过个人经历和观察，描述了科技如何导致大脑“腐烂”、焦虑上升、社交孤立和注意力分散。文章分析了Snapchat等应用的社会压力机制，如地理位置标签和“连续记录”，将友谊变成义务，并讨论了“无限滚动”和“变化之苦”如何加速痛苦。作者强调，科技成瘾阻碍冥想和精神成长，但通过静修和设定科技边界，人们可以重新获得专注、快乐和深度连接。最后，文章呼吁读者反思生命短暂，优先考虑佛法修行以实现证悟，并预告了数字时代的佛教解决方案。

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