Too Many Apps, Too Many Updates | The Anxiety of Modern Technology

Does it ever feel like the world is moving faster than your brain can keep up?

Another app. Another software update. Another password. Another AI tool. Another notification. Just when you've figured one thing out, something new arrives.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat explore why modern technology can leave us feeling mentally exhausted, overwhelmed and anxious and why it doesn't mean you're falling behind.

The human brain evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, yet in just a few decades we've gone from landlines and paper maps to smartphones, artificial intelligence, online banking, QR codes, streaming platforms and endless digital updates. No wonder our nervous systems sometimes struggle to keep pace.

Together, we unpack the science behind cognitive overload, why our brains crave predictability, and how the constant pressure to learn new technology can leave us feeling like we're always one step behind.

In this episode, we discuss:

•  Why your brain isn't "slow", the world has simply become much faster 
•  How rapid technological change affects the nervous system 
•  Why learning new apps and software can feel mentally exhausting 
•  The hidden stress of constant updates, passwords and notifications 
•  How comparison and the pressure to "keep up" fuel anxiety 
•  The role of sleep, nutrition and movement in supporting a healthy, adaptable brain 
•  Why it's okay to choose technology that serves you instead of trying to master everything.

Because your Anxiety Compass was never designed to point you towards everything that's new. It was designed to guide you towards what matters most.

🎧 If this episode resonated with you, we'd love you to follow, subscribe, and share The Anxiety Compass with someone who's ever felt overwhelmed by the pace of modern life. ❤️

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, it's Sammy and Natalie here, and welcome to the Anxiety Compass. Where anxiety isn't the enemy, it's our tour guide. We'll swap stories, share tools, and have a laugh while we find our way back to True North. Come along. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode. I would just ask how you are, but you look fabulous, so I'm just gonna roll with that.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

You do oh thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

You look beautifully relaxed after your holiday. I am, but I am a bit belchy from all of the food and alcohol. I did drink alcohol, and you know what? My eye's twitching now. I think my B12 levels are quite low. It's so funny. The body's always on your magnesium and magnesium. Yeah, and magnesium, all the things. I'm lacking some of the nutrients, but my skin's clearing up. So it's amazing when we let our hair down and enjoy life. Our body's like, you might have gone a little bit too far. I'm just gonna we just go back to just normal, healthy. Yeah, let's change that a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

So that is at the same time, you had a good time. I mean, we are we've got to live, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Absolutely. We do.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

You know, live you you've got to find the joy in life. And if you know you're with your family, you're having a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

We go to a winery, we tried all the different. I mean, I don't really drink wine, but I was sampling all the wine with my mum. It was lovely. Yeah, yeah. Uh so today I've had a lot of people say to me that there's just so much information out there. My brain is just constantly having to learn new things, and it's just, it's, it's crazy. Uh, and that they feel like they're becoming less intelligent because it's taking them longer to learn things. Are you hearing that? Like, I don't think it's an age thing. I think it's just people in general are really struggling because there's a lot of new things to download, new programs to learn. We wanted to talk today about your brain isn't getting slower, it's just the world just keeps getting faster with more information. And I wonder when was the last time you had to learn another app, another password, another AI tool, and perhaps another software up. You just had a software update on one of you. Literally just before we hit record. You just like, really? Another update? I mean, I'm I'm all for you know ironing out the kinks, but you know, every time I log into my gov, for example, I hate that one. It's like I've got to do go through all the process again to re-update the app just to do the same freaking thing. Um and then we tell ourselves we're getting old, we can't keep up. Maybe we're not getting old. Maybe life just keeps getting faster and faster and faster. And some of our little brains are uh are so full with information. Um, and you know, I find the the new kids, the new kids coming out, their little brains are a little bit more equipped with all of this. They're they're easily adaptable because that's what they're used to, this fast but then they have a very short attention span as well. So, you know, you got the yin and the yang, right? The world is uh changing and it's becoming more pro for the for the newer generation coming in, unfortunately. The world is changing incredibly fast, Nat. We're in different generations, aren't we? I'm um on the cusp of millennial. I think millennials 1981, I'm 1985.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

So you're I'm a classic, I am smack bang, I'm a gen X, I was born and none in 69. So my teenage years were you know the 80s, you know. I'm the same as Nigel all the way through. Yeah. So definitely in my generation, like going back to the 80s and even into the 90s, the early 90s, you know, yeah, let's let's go back in time to what it used to be like.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

I love those reels that go around.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

One phone in the high house, just one landline. You know, we had the long cord.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Yes, and you get you tangle in it, and then it's really long. Do you know? I still remember my home phone number from when I was a little girl. And then you only had a couple of TV channels.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Like I remember growing up, um, especially when I lived in Golben, which is in um New South Wales, we had two channels.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Is Golbyn the one with the big sheep? Okay, yeah, I know where I'm going. Yep, continue. I've got to be in the story.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah, so we had two channels. We had one commercial, which I can't I don't know what it was. I was like between the ages of like four and seven when I was there. Um, but we had that and ABC, and then in Canberra we had originally had three, you know, like three channels, you know, when SBS came along. So we had SBS, ABC, and you know, a couple of commercial channels. So but imagine that you just had four. We we didn't have any Netflix, we didn't have any cable TV, less choices, yes, less brain appeared. Cameras, or even before disposable cameras, just you know, camera cameras. Yeah, big cameras, that's what I started off with.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

And then yeah, such a big thing when never had it on my phone. I I mean, I'm still from the generation where you didn't have a camera on your phone, like you just had the phone with Snake on it. Yeah, I remember the first mobile phone in the street, the guy brought it down, it was huge, and everyone was like, So you can talk on that from up there. Yeah, I was only like seven or eight, but I remember it.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, I know. Yeah, I remember what you know in my early years of working, um, back in the 90s, early 90s, and yeah, the first people that had the mobile phones. We were still using pages at that time.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Pages. Do you know you you watch Friends? If you watch Friends from start to finish, you will realize just how old the show is because no one has mobile phones, they get paged, and you really understand why they all communicated. Can you imagine what it'd be like today? They'd all be sitting around with mobile phones and not even talking to each other. I know, so true. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Um letters, who remembers writing letters? I had a friends, yes, I exactly. And you know, it was a much slower pace. You you weren't expecting a response within the next five minutes and then getting aggravated when they hadn't responded. With emails you would write a letter and then you'd post it maybe that day, maybe in a couple of days, next time you were at the post office, and then you had to wait, you know, weeks, sometimes months before you got a reply. Yes, but it was that anticipation of looking forward to what was the update in the in the other person's life, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Ah, it was so good, and it was like with work, like when you because I've worked in offices like in-law, and you could send an email and send a letter off, because we used to do a lot of letters when I first started, because emails were only just starting out when I was in an office. And if you had a computer in your emails, it was like, whoa. And then it started getting slowly into it. But most of the things that went out were by letter, and you had express posts, obviously, for urgent things, and then the fax machine got used for the very urgent things, but most things were by a letter, and when you left your office, no one could get a hold of you, no one could ring you until you got home, and no one really rang you at home, and no one could uh send you an email to say, Hey, can you quickly jump online and do this, this, and this? Or while you're on holidays, then they can't ring you and say, Hey, can you jump on and do this? Like you were when you clocked off, you clocked off. You clocked off. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

You don't get to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

I know, I know, and no wonder we're so dysregulated with all of this. Are you there things like encyclopedias? Yeah, I was just gonna say that. I I used to I remember when Google was actually when I was in Golbert, and I must have been about five, and for some reason I had decided that I was gonna become intelligent. So I pulled out the encyclopedia. I think it might have been the children's one. Uh, I don't know. We were reading it um yeah, encyclopedias. But I remember I would pull out a and the very first um entry was Aardvach. I know a lot about Ardvark. I never got any further than Aardvach, so I can tell you all about Aardvach.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

My grandpa had I remember going down to my grandparents' house in the summertime, and my grandpa had, you know, how you get the collector's encyclopedias and they were like gold-bound, and they had, you know, three cases of them. And I remember when they sold their place, they were trying to give them away. Nobody wanted them because they would just take up space in your house now, and no one really uses encyclopedias anymore. And that's the thing, like when you're out at a coffee shop, you would go, Oh, I wonder what that means, and you'd it create and spark a conversation about it. But now someone just goes, Hey, Google, and then they get the answer straight away. So when we went out not long ago, no one had phones, and you would have those in-depth conversations about topics that no one really had the answers for. No. Now I wonder whether you actually keep that information in your head now. Once you get the answer, is it instant you're not learning about the advark? You're simply typing in fact. What do Advars eat? Oh, yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

There's too much information and other things.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, there's too much. You need, you know, you've got the whole bloody encyclopedia at the tip of your fingers. Everything's in our phones now. It is.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

You know what? It's really interesting. Just this little bit of conversation we were talking about, learn talking about the past. My own nervous system, I actually feel karma, even just talking about what it used to be like.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Yes. I've been listening to um like Paul Anchor and uh just you know old 1950s music lately in the background. And I tell you what, like just all the love songs that I mean it could swing either way, but they use a lot of those songs over the top of bloody murder scenes now. Um so you know, but the the memories are there. I often listen in the car because I was born in 1985, so I remember a lot of the 90s music, like all the alternative rock. Um, but I also remember the early 2000s music. That was when I was a a teenager out clubbing and stuff, and you know, you've got your Gwen Stefani and all that stuff, and it does those memories, they trigger that relaxation sensation in your body.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, my goodness, you were born in 1985. That makes me feel really old because I was in year I was in year 10 in 1985.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Uh, hello. Nigel was born in 1976. Do you know how many conversations he's nearly 10 years older than me and we're married? Do you know how many conversations my children have? When mum was a baby, you were and I were 10. I was like, Tyle, you're 15. That's like you're dating a five-year-old. He's like, Ew. I'm like, yeah, let's not go there. Um, I don't. Yeah, no, not at all. So, anyway, off topic. Um, but yeah, I agree with you. I think um you can feel calm when you have those nostalgic memories in your brain. The this not just the smells and the and the tastes of things, but uh got taking you back to that place of safety, the place where everything was slower. Let's call it the place where everything was slower. Um but today, shall we take everyone to today? I mean, we just we went on a little journey back in time there. That was wonderful. Take us through, Sammy. Well, now I have my phone sitting right in front of me, which is timing this so that we don't go. I've also got a text that's come through for my sister, and I've had three emails pop through, and it all is right in front of my eyes. So my nervous system can see all that and knowing what I have to do after this. Whereas I'm using it as a timer. Normally I wouldn't see it, but everything's popping up on my screen, so I need to change that. Uh, my laptop can go with me everywhere. So sometimes, like we were just talking about catching up for our birthdays coming up, um, and I said, Oh, that'll be great. I'll bring my laptop and I'll do a bit of work after. And then I thought, we're going on a lovely little catch-up, having a match and going for a walk, and then I'm gonna do some work because I have the ability to take my laptop with me everywhere now, and nothing's sacred, nothing's slow. I can go out in the middle of the forest and bring my bloody laptop because you've got Wi-Fi everywhere now, you can connect anywhere. Um, watches. Do you know how many times I've gone out? I don't have an Apple Watch, one of those smart watches, but I get so frustrated with some of my friends and family, not so much family, but friends and that that have them and they're constantly somebody glancing at their wrist. I know And they're like, Oh, hang on a sec, I just need to answer this. And I'm like, Yeah, and I know they don't mean it's a conversation at the same time. My nervous system goes into a bit of oh, they're not really interested. What's going on? Or if you've got one, you're constantly timing everything that's going on in your body. I need to walk more, I need to do this. Um, yeah, and do you know the amount of apps you have on your phone now, everything requires an app. I actually went to park in the city the other day, or it's oh yeah, yep. And I just I feel sorry for elderly people that don't have a mobile phone, they can't even park now. You have to download Nigel doesn't like parking, parking, he doesn't like parking, he doesn't like apps, but he went to the city the other night with my son and he rang me and he said, I don't want to download this bloody app so I can park. So I actually did it on the app on my phone and put his number plate in. But he's like, What? For what purpose? And I also find like even when you go out to a restaurant, listen to me, I'm like having a mid- I'm having a big winch here. When you go out to a restaurant now, you gotta bloody scan the freaking QR codes.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

No, no, I actually refuse. Oh refuse. I'll go up to the counter and and say, Have you got a menu? And they're like, I'll just use the QR code. And I'm like, no, I want a physical menu. I don't know, maybe I'm old, but I just like the I don't know. I just don't know what you're always staring at a screen for anything.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Well, we had we went to a restaurant and we sat down and no one was coming over, and I was like, okay, well, we'll just scan the QR code so we can see what is actually on offer. And then I was like, oh, we might as well order it. And then they asked if I wanted to give them a tip. And I'm like, for what? The QR code.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

I just noticed that all these things reduce our human to human contact.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

I know. I mean, and don't even get me started with school apps. I mean, the amount of apps and things I've got to go through with the school now, like it's freaking ridiculous. And you don't know what is going on, you know, what platform people are using. Like, even with you, I send you a message because you were gonna set up a Zoom and it's like, let me know where you're gonna send the link. You're gonna send it by text, you're gonna send it by messenger, you're gonna send it by you know an email. Where's it going? Wonderful world of opportunities that are consuming my brain. And um, my mom and I were having a bit of a whinge this morning because I sat down, got ready outside, and I'm like, for freak's sake, I've got to get my freaking phone just in case I get one of those stupid one-time passwords that I need to get into something, you know. Oh my gosh, these two-factor authentication things and the face IDs, I'm sick of it. Or the thumb, thumb ID. Oh, what about passwords? How many passwords do your does your brain no human being could possibly remember all the passwords? And so there's actually apps that you can get to store all your passwords.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

And if you lose that, or if that goes down, or if it gets compromised.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

My mama was saying she used to write all her passwords in a book, and she's like, and then I lost the friggin' book. Yeah. And then they're like, create a password for you, and it's like VR H H XX question. And you're like, what the frick is this crap?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

It's like, what? I just gotta remember, you know, 110 billion, you know, symbols and a couple of random letters thrown in there.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Like, what my god, or you go to create a password and they're like, it needs to be 12 characters, it needs to have this, needs to have that. You've used that password before. I know that it's like I just wanted to order my mail and now I've had to download an app and I've had to set up a client thing and apartment.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

I don't want the freaking mail or parking, I'll just go home. So anyway, I'm like that. I refuse to drive into the city for that reason because I was the same as Nigel, like about a year ago, because I never drive into the city, I always get the train. Yeah, and like Nigel, I had to go into the city. I was actually doing a space clearing in a Pilates studio, actually. And um I had no idea that this had become a thing. And I went to park and I went looking for the the the meter thing to type in my you know Regio details and pay for it, and I couldn't find one. I was like, I was welcome. What what? And then I saw these signs saying I was like what no I had to download it. Yeah, they trap you like charging you money for having the app and uh I ended up removing it.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

I was like, what it's painful, and I'm just looking at my apps at the moment. I've got I've got a ridiculous amount of apps. I've got an app for my gym because you can't get in without the app now. You've got to scan with the app. I've got one for my Thermomix because all the recipes are on there. That one I use and I like that one. Um but like I'm just looking, I've got folders. I've got one for my business, which has got Zoom, YouTube Studios, Canva, you know, all of the cap all of those things. So they're in a separate folder. And then I've got the education one, which is where you order tuck shop, like canteen, where you connect with the government apps, where you it's like it's just and then you know, you've got your entertainment ones, and I mean, yes, in some way we should be grateful that we've got all these opportunities, but at the same time, I'm wondering how our brain is coping, because our brain actually likes predictability, and the science shows that our brains create neural pathways, and the more we repeat something, we've talked about this before with my grandma being in a retirement village. The more you repeat something, the easier it becomes, and the more safe and comfortable we feel. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

100%.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

And then someone changes the app, someone updates the app, someone changes where all the food is in the shopping center. So when you go in to get your groceries, something's moved, and all of a sudden you've got to relearn it all again. Like Yep.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

That's my biggest bug there when they they move the the app, like they the change it all, yeah, the the buttons and stuff, and it's just like because yeah, you've got that neural pathways like okay, I've got to use the app, I know where to go, blah blah blah. And then all of a sudden you log in one day, it's like where is this now? So you're spending like five minutes just to relearn looking for something to relearn it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, or they've created AI, and all of a sudden it's like prompting what you're gonna say or think, and you're like, that's not what I want to write. No, you've got to delete it, or they've got a new login information. You need to update with the new login. I hate it when they update the app and then you go to login and you're your password and everything's gone, and you gotta go find it all again. Oh my gosh, you've set off a bloody You've set me off, Nat. I'm actually anxious and my nervous system. How funny is that? The previous conversation we had, we were both feeling calm, and now I'm actually feeling angry just thinking about all of this stuff. Oh, I literally feel anxious in my stomach. I've I could feel like a little seal ball.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Exhausting.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

It truly is exhausting. That's just talking about it, living it every day. I know this system. I know. And when we first started this episode, we were talking about that a lot of people, because I'm in my 40s now and a lot of my friends are in their 50s, and we would, and I've got, you know, parents who are in their 60s. Why does it seem to feel harder as we age? Like I'm seeing my kids, they're just I mean, oblivious. They're like, yeah, just download this app and then do this, and then they're like, what the crap? Why do I have to do that? Why does it seem so much harder for us as as we get older?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

It's not a thing, is it? Yeah, that's a really good question. I mean, it's it's purely because we have established pathways. The older we get, the more established those pathways are. You know, learning still happens, it just takes more repetitions. You know, and that leads us back to you know neuroplasticity, which we've talked about before. Um, and what is neuroplasticity? You know, you may have you know, and that is our brain's ability to be able to reorganize, adapt, and change its physical structure and functional connections throughout our lives. And you know, because it allows the inner system to learn new skills, recover from injuries, um, adapt to um changing environments by continuously rewiring those neural pathways.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

I could go into the science of it, but I won't. Yeah, but no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

We've talked about neuroplasticity a few times on a different. Podcast talking about changing those pathways. But I'm the way that I'm hearing that is that I've got I I often think of that um what's it called? It's a cartoon, and I've mentioned it before, like it's like a Pixar movie with the brain, the emotions. Oh my gosh, my brain's not working because there's too much information in there now. Um I'm gonna have to look it up. But it basically goes into as you're learning things, you're building memories and you're storing things, and it's releasing old things that are stored. So old phone numbers, like I can't remember every phone number from my phone when I was a kid. Um, but that's called synaptic pruning, if you want to. Yeah, well, it it gets rid of the old stuff, but we have so much information there. Like I can still remember songs from adverts from freaking when I was 10 or 8. Like that information is still in my head. These kids don't have they've got it's like they've got more room in there to quickly store things. Um, and so learning a new skill is isn't that a thing? Like you could it it's easier to learn a new language and new things as a child, it's a little bit hard as you're gonna be able to do that. Yeah, it's still possible. Sponge. Well it's the saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I don't like that saying. I think you can. You totally can. I just think that you need a little bit more things. So, what kind of things can help us to um encourage that neuroplasticity in the brain? I mean, I I know that movement and exercise is really great as you get older.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Movement is the number one thing, that and sleep, sleep, and so many people I know are not getting any sleep.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Nah, we've done sleep exactly. Exactly. That's you go back and listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Is there a cognitive decline because of that? Yeah, you know, because also you've got um, you know, also when we're asleep, it also um there's a process where our brain literally gets washed. So it's refreshing itself. Yeah, it literally is while we sleep. Um, that's why it's just so important. So especially when we're news, you know, because we in in this day and age, we are learning new things almost every day. You know, yeah. We're needing to, you know, new skills, new you know, adaptability. So having that good sleep too. Oops, I keep knocking my microphone. Hope that doesn't come through.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

No, it was me. Oh, would were you knocking? Minus we were knocking at the time.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Sorry about that, everyone. Um but also when you know, looking at food, we are nutritious, so proteins, you know, making sure we're getting enough protein to feed our brains and those omegas, all the omega-3s, and good proteins.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

I find everything has bloody protein written on it at the moment. Yeah, yeah, quality protein.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Protein, protein, protein.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Yeah, and all right, it's insane. Um, but yeah, your brain stays adaptable with those things, so making sure you're getting them in and not drying out your brain and and just being angry all the time, thinking about all the things. And I find trying not to get angry about it is is helpful too, or just laughing about it. Oh, another app delightful. It's just delightful.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Do you need to learn so again? Something else new. Yay!

SPEAKER_00 25:28

I know. I often would ask myself though, do we actually need all these apps? Every social platform, every AI tool. Like I went to um an online workshoppy thing the other day, and they were it was like they were putting pressure on you to keep up with everyone. They were saying, watch which AI tool do you use for your business? If you're still using just chat GBT, you're getting left behind. And there's this sense of, oh, yes, should I be what should I be? I'm gonna have to download these other apps.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

And there's literally like so many different AI apps that you that you use this one for this one, and you use this AI for this. I know. And it's like, oh my god, no, seriously. I know it's meant to be like a tool to help simplify things, but all of a sudden there's now specialized AI tools for everything.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

And everyone's selling to you. Like, even like I had uh something come through the other day, or it was a few months ago now, and they're like, Are you just collecting recipes on all the social media things? Download the recipe app to put all of your recipes in there. I'm like, that's a great idea. Now I've got this freaking recipe app that I don't even use, but it's got all these recipes in there that I might possibly cook, which I probably won't. I probably could delete the app. And I'm wondering, I'm gonna go through my phone later today, and I'm wondering, like, I've even got containers for change. You need to download an app now to be able to get a refund to your bank account when you're donating cans. And I donated eight dollars worth of cans the other day because I don't really do it that often. And I'm like, Are you kidding me? I've got to download a freaking app. And then I was standing there for about 20 minutes trying to complete the form so I could get my eight dollars. And I was like, what was the point of that? Was that really worth it?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

I know, I know, and yeah, but that's the thing I was gonna suggest is go through it. My latest really be discerning.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

I've got a Netflix controller because my kids want to play the game on the thing, and we were playing it the other night. It was really fun, it's Pictionary, and everybody uses their phones. Oh, I love pictionary, and my mum's like, I don't want to download another app, and we're like, but then you can't play the games because I don't want another app.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

No, get out the board game and use that.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

But this is the generation we're doing. It's so true.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Oh seriously, I'm I'm sure there'll be people listening going, especially about me, like, oh my god, you are so old.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Yeah, some say things like that, like just get out the board game. It's I know I I agree with you, and I'm only 40, I'm not that old, Nat. I mean, people I don't know if we've got people in their 20s listening to us, but maybe. Hi there. You've got you've got plenty of time and continue on your journey, listen to us, and and listen to us bicker about the past or the future. Um, I'm gonna throw a reflective question out, Nat. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

That sounds like a great idea. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah. What technology genuinely adds value to your life? Ooh, and what are you only keeping because you feel guilty if you don't? Ooh. And that's like apps as well. I often I said I actually said this reflective question out to mum when I was writing it. And I said, I actually want to delete Facebook because it doesn't add value to my life anymore. But at the same time, I feel guilty because most of my friends put their life stories up there, and if I delete it, I'm like I'm deleting their life, and there's that sense of guilt. You know what I mean? It's it's hard, but I just find whenever I go on there to check up on things, I get an influx of doom and worry and people fighting in the comments, and then I get stuck in that loop. We were talking about in the past episode.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Um I know some people who see I've got the apps on my phone, but I use Facebook and Insta predominantly for my business. Yeah. But I know I've got friends and family who really did get sick of having, you know, Facebook or Instagram, like especially Facebook, like just available, yeah, on their phone. So they actually just deleted the app from their phone and they make a conscious decision to go on like on their computer, on their laptop. I used to do it, do it once a day.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yeah, well, just inspire me to delete them again. I don't know why I have them on my phone. I'm currently, look, I'm currently deleting Facebook, I'm deleting Instagram. Oh, I can't delete Pokemon Go though. I've been catching Pokemon by the lake with my son, and that's a memory. See, that gives me something, so I'm gonna keep that. Um amazing. All right, well, uh, do you have anything more to add to this wonderful episode of me ranting and you having reflected memories?

SPEAKER_01 30:22

I think we've I think we've said enough.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah, delete the apps, guys. Delete the apps, go speak to humans, in the more presentation, yeah, live in the present. Yeah, slow, slow living, slow down. Yeah, on the anxiety compass, we often talk about finding your true north, but it's hard to hear your own compass when the world is constantly shouting at you, hurry up, learn this, download that, keep up. This week, instead of asking, Am I keeping up with everyone else? Try asking, Am I moving towards what actually matters to me? Because your true north isn't determined by how many apps that you know, how quickly you adapt to AI, or whether you've mastered the latest technology. It's about living in a way that feels aligned with your values, your season of life, and what genuinely brings you peace. I love that ending. I think that's a nice little ending there that I read out. What do you reckon? I agree. Ah, alright, let's go. I'm gonna go delete some more apps.

unknown 31:34

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Thanks for joining us on the Anxiety Compass. If you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little art and low calm. We'll see you in the next one. Keep following your true norm. Disclaimer time, Sammy and Natalie may be clinical nutritionists, but we're not your personal doctors. What you hear is for learning and laughing, not diagnosing or prescribing. If things feel bigger than you, call your doctor or local support line or reach out to a qualified health professional and your back to