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Comedian on Technology and Happiness

Yesterday evening I found wisdom in an unexpected place.  I was watching Conan O’Brien.  Mostly this was because the Big Bang Theory rerun had just ended, and I had not wanted to move yet.  Then Louis C.K., a comedian who I had never heard of, came on began to tell Conan why he won’t let his kids have cell phones.  I was impressed.  As a wordy, long-winded and serious psychotherapist by nature, I appreciate this comedian’s short and funny explanation better than my own.  Check out how his view on why over use of technology can rob us of learning empathy, the ability to just sit there, and emotional experience.

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Here are some great quotes from this clip.

“Just be sad…stand in the way of it and let it hit you like a truck.”

“Sadness is poetic.  Your lucky to live sad moments.”

“I was grateful to feel sad and then I met it with true, profound happiness.”

“You never feel completely sad or completely happy.  You just feel kinda satisfied with your product and then you die.”

I wonder if Louis C.K. is aware that he is talking about principles of mindfulness.  Clearly he understands better than most that pain is a normal part of life and when you avoid it you create suffering and miss joy.