I relish the power my phone affords me.

The semblance of superman it makes of me because of the unbridled access to things I could only have done five or ten years ago on my laptop is thrilling. Sending and checking emails, typing in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and surfing the internet among others.

I was buoyed as the owner or as the express proprietor into thinking I could control my Smartphone but this turned out to be a fantasy. What happened was the opposite. My Smartphone rather took charge of me.

It distracted me from my daily tasks and blew away GHS200,000 worth of contract with an international media firm. I still remember with horror how badly I felt that day and still berate myself for losing that hefty amount.

It could have spurred on a business adventure or something worthwhile but they all shriveled before me.

Fact is that I didn’t lose the money because of an error I made when signing the contract. What happened was more of a joint effort between social media and distraction – that’s if it can exist on its own.

On the said day I was supposed to send the final contract I reached for my phone to react to an urgent message from a colleague of mine which came in some minutes away from the contract signing deadline. The message arrived at 1pm and I was to send the final document to the company – for the purpose of hiding its identity I will say XYZ Media Inc at 1:20pm. Everything was set and I was enthralled because of the contract sum and the immeasurable opportunities it would have afforded.

Thinking it was just a message click away I opened it only to be buried in an avalanche of other messages.

Rather than hopping out to act on the contract, I saw myself responding to messages sent from friends on notable and inconceivable social media sites. I confess some of the messages were interesting and equally significant but literally unimportant.

The very minute I decided I wouldn’t have any more of the messages, the time on my phone clocked 2pm. I was sweaty all of a sudden. I swiftly opened my mail and sent the message anyways but the company flagged it.

“Mr Brakopowers sorry you didn't make go through  because couldn’t meet our deadline. The offer has been given to another individual in your country. We wish you the  best in your next endeavour.”

The message was self-explanatory. I didn't go through.

I phoned the guys and explained what happened. Not really what happened but what supposed happened. Thinking because I was one of the only two Ghanaians shortlisted for the contract they would take in my explanation. It appeared they wouldn’t have any of that.

“You can try some other time Mr Brakopowers,” I later received.

Thank God I wasn’t uncharitable to myself because of the quantum of money I lost. Even though some of my relatives were angrier than I had expected of them, we later moved past that.

Constant interaction with your Smartphone can kill you:

We are in a very important moment in the life of our world. Some people have christened this era the information age while others say it’s the age of opportunity. Anyone of the two names captures the moment we find ourselves.

There are so many opportunities opened to us which were hitherto non-existent some years ago. Today, we can do so much on our phone to the point that laptops manufacturers are now figuring out how to remain relevant. They have read the sign on the wall and are motivated to stay in business.

The world which some persons thought was big in the past has shrunk into a village with countries taking the position of clans. The opportunities are innumerable yet if one fails to strike the balance between the use of these technologies and the need to achieve his goals, he would be lost.

This calls for the need of a master plan to navigate you from the influx of these technologies.

As an individual how do you stay relevant? Our lives continue to be dominated by social media. Some people become irritable if they haven’t visited WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Fytino, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Hangout 10 or 20 times in a day. These platforms serve as their amusement places as well as a place they get to hang out with friends – something phone calls have proven expensive.

Though people use these social media sites for noble purposes, they have often created some complications for their lives. Some promising careers have foundered; love-affairs that need to thrive on face-to-face communication are withering away and goal-getters have grown addicted because they have all found it difficult to part ways with their Smartphones or at least control them.

What we often see is that when one decides to log on to Facebook to read posts of his friends, he will surreptitiously be led to WhatsApp and later to LinkedIn and before he could say jack, it would have been late which means he has to round up to go to bed.

This situation has created people I have termed "cyclical procrastinators" in our society. They are people who have clearly defined and measurable goals to achieve in the day only to end up postponing them to the following day. This gets repeated until he realises he hasn't lived at the end of the year.

My best bet is that this kind of behaviour at best will make you a sour loser in life.

Only a few people will end up victorious. Those individuals who will take the pain to work out the details to define the thin line between social media time and work time.

Take charge of your life else your Smartphone would do that for you and guess what you will end up a mediocre person at the end. It’s a fact that our lives have been enriched by these technologies – which continue to spring up every day - but we shouldn’t lose sight of the many things we have lost and continue to lose by our use of them.

The technologies were made to make our lives easier and more comfortable and not to enslave us. This explains why up to this day I still read the hard-copies of books rather than the soft-copies even though the latter make for convenience. I always want to avoid distraction.

Since you have found it challenging to control your use of Smartphone I will suggest you download an app called SelfControl and let it take charge of you. Remember: your dreams should not suffer because of your lack of commitment. If you’re not where you want to be it may be perhaps you’re not putting in enough efforts to get there. This also means that you are not concentrating that enough. Focus. Regain your power and you will win.

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SpeakUp:

This is where you are given the opportunity to share with us your own experiences since you started using Smartphones. How has your life been enriched and what are some of the pitfalls? Mail them to Austin.powers@myjoyonline.com or Brakomen@outlook.com. The winner of the Mission Statement challenge would be announced on Monday.

Read more of Kwabena Brako-Powers on www.life360degrees.net.