(Minghui.org) I would like to share a common problem with many people today, the danger of obsessing with smartphones. I have realized through my own experience, that as a practitioner, if you are attached to anything and go to extremes, you will bring trouble on your path of cultivation. I would like to share my own experience, which can serve as a warning to those fellow practitioners who have the same attachment I did. 

My brother bought an Apple smartphone for my elder sister and me in 2010. I was originally not that interested in smartphones. But I was curious as soon as I got the phone. I have a habit of once becoming interested in something, trying my best to get it done, which may be an attachment of conquest.

I quickly got very good at using this smartphone. I originally thought that using software such as QQ and online shopping was everyday people’s business, and had nothing to do with practitioners. A young practitioner once communicated with me, saying that online shopping was more convenient. I then confidently told her, “I prefer shopping in physical stores where I have opportunities to clarify the truth to people.”

But one day, my classmate, an everyday person, constantly told me about the benefits of online shopping, and encouraged me to learn how to visit some websites on the smartphone. I felt somewhat reluctant to do it at first, as I had to go to my bank to open an online account. But I feared losing face in front of my classmate, so I learned how to shop online. I have since encountered one tribulation after another.

I found some red spots on my left arm on July 1, 2012. I didn’t take them seriously at first. But within a few days, my entire left arm was covered with small red spots which felt itchy at first, and later became more and more painful. I realized that I had a loophole but I didn’t know where my attachment was. I asked fellow practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts for me and they told me, “We have done it. It seems that this interference is very big.” I replied, “That’s alright. I will face my own problems.”

A week later, the red spots on my arm became painful blisters. During that time, I was trying to look inside but failed to find out what caused this problem. I then said to my left arm, “You can be as painful as you like!” After that, I increased my Fa study time and time sending forth righteous thoughts. I usually take a bath every day, which I did during that painful time.

Another ten days passed, and the blisters on my arm were festering and finally subsided. In about two weeks, they crusted. Twenty days later, the crusted place on my arm became smooth but the skin there was very tender. Upon seeing my arm, one classmate of mine told me that the scars would go away. I said that there would be no scars left there. I later learned that the symptom on my arm was the illness called “herpes zoster.” I can no longer see any traces on my arm.

Although I overcame this tribulation, I never thought that it resulted from my spending so much time on my smartphone. I subsequently kept on using my smartphone, including surfing the Internet for a long time, using QQ, and online shopping. I sometimes read novels and watched TV series. I spent at least one or two hours doing these things every day.

I thought that it didn’t matter as I had already studied the Fa, done the exercises, or clarified the truth. However, one day when I was cleaning the bathtub, I cut my left hand with a knife tool. The knife’s edge cut very deep and the wound was nearly two centimeters long at the root of the thumb of my left hand. I gave off a cry but immediately I thought that I was okay.

I quickly found gauze to wrap it in, but I couldn't manage to do it, so I asked my husband for help. Upon seeing this, my husband was so frightened that told me to quickly go to the hospital. I comforted him, saying, “I am alright.” I then sat on the sofa and kept reading, “Falun Dafa is good,” because the gauze kept falling off. I stopped wrapping my hand, and the wound neither hurt nor bled. At two o'clock in the afternoon, my husband came to see if I was alright. When he saw that everything was fine, he went out without saying anything. After dinner, I started to meditate. I found that the wound began to heal after doing the sitting meditation.

After this incident, I did my housework as usual. It didn't take long for the wound to heal. Through these two lessons, I began to calm down and look inward, thinking, “Why did these problems always happen on my left hand? I hold my smartphone with my left hand. Is it because I have spend too much time with the phone?” So I uninstalled the ordinary people’s software.

It was not that easy for me to break my habit. Soon after, I re-installed the online shopping software as well as WeChat. Because of my weak main spirit and my lack of willpower, I regressed in my cultivation. Every day, whenever I had time, I looked at my smartphone. I knew very clearly that I should not do this, but I could not control myself. One day however, I found that my left hand was so weak that I could hardly lift a cooking pot. Only then did I realize that I had to give up my attachment to the smartphone.

It was not until the Minghui.org website issued the “Notes for All Dafa Disciples” (about certain smartphone apps) that I completely uninstalled and cleaned up this software. At the same time, I restored my smartphone to its factory settings. Fortunately, with Master and the Fa by my side, I have been freed from these dangers again and again.

Looking back at why I failed to overcome this problem, which lasted eight years, I have realized that the cause was that I didn’t study the Fa well due to my attachment of time. I have not gone out to work since 2003, and stayed at home. Except for doing housework and other ordinary people’s must-do matters, I have spent all my time doing the three things, feeling that I have much more time than those who have to go to work every day. That’s why I was in a state of being obsessed with my smartphone, without being strict with myself. I kept dragging along like this.

Some fellow practitioners said, “Comfort is worse than poisonous wine.” I was killing my time without realizing it. Although Master endures my karma, I don’t feel it and exhibit numbness. I do the three things every day as usual without being motivated. I didn’t take dealing with my smartphone seriously.

By looking within, I realized that I was not at all eager to eliminate this attachment, but indulged myself in it so many times and enlarged this human desire of mine. It is because I spent so much time on my smartphone that I look older, am losing my hair, and have bags under my eyes even though I am only in my fifties.

I was immersed in the Fa every day when I had just started to practice Dafa. Although I couldn’t sit still when sending forth righteous thoughts, I would do it whenever I had time. My family members told me to watch TV, but I was not interested. While my daughter was watching TV, I read Dafa books without being affected at all, and I could not hear anything on the TV. At that time, I was 29-years-old. Others thought that I was still a high school student. When I was 39-years-old, people thought that I was 27 or 28-years-old. But now I feel that I am not as diligent as I used to be.

But no matter what, since Fa-rectification has not ended, we have still time left and Master and the gods are cherishing us. I think I should cherish myself and this hard-won opportunity, cultivate myself well and assist Master in Fa-rectification. I should not leave any regrets for myself.