"People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death
In Neil Postman's book 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he expresses his fear that modern media (television) is fundamentally changing how Americans think and communicate. But, as should be clear from the above quotation, Postman's fears are even more relevant when applied to today's media technologies like smart phones and tablets.
If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of technology. I have a huge Googling problem, can't stay off of Amazon, and have a serious dependency on my smart phone and all of its fancy skills. It's recognition of my own behaviors that makes me take seriously this article from Psych Central about compulsive use of mobile devices. The article cites a Baylor University study that was published in the Journal of Behavior Addictions. While there is some debate about how to classify "behavioral addictions," there is a growing consensus that people do develop obsessive behaviors around certain activities, like checking a cell phone.
If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of technology. I have a huge Googling problem, can't stay off of Amazon, and have a serious dependency on my smart phone and all of its fancy skills. It's recognition of my own behaviors that makes me take seriously this article from Psych Central about compulsive use of mobile devices. The article cites a Baylor University study that was published in the Journal of Behavior Addictions. While there is some debate about how to classify "behavioral addictions," there is a growing consensus that people do develop obsessive behaviors around certain activities, like checking a cell phone.
But, given my own love of technology, you're not going to hear me argue for banning or completely abstaining from use of all these new mobile devices. That said, I also believe that self-reflection is a critical component of self-improvement, and that modern technology, especially mobile devices, is a major destroyer of self-reflection time. As modern people, I think we need to be conscious of how we manage our technology use. I think we should all try to set aside some technology-free time in our lives, and I have some suggestions . . . .