Judul : My smartphone made me someone I didn’t want to become
link : My smartphone made me someone I didn’t want to become
My smartphone made me someone I didn’t want to become
I have always had a special pride for being able to think about things. Most people go about their lives without thinking about what they’re doing. Why do we do things a certain way and not another? Why are people racist? Or homophobic? Why do we need to feel fashionable? Why do we need religion? What is the best way to educate children? Is geography necessary? What void do we need to fulfill when we browse Facebook? Why do people smoke even though it can kill them? I have always spent a large part of my day lost in my thoughts and observing the behaviours around me. I was proud of this personality trait.
When I got a smartphone things changed a bit. Being as curious as I am, I was fascinated with the ability to acquire information wherever I was. I would read books in the kindle app, articles in Pocket or feedly, or even the browser. Soon, I was no longer using the smartphone for long-form reading, and was reading statuses on Facebook, tweets, following dozens of accounts on Instagram, and browsing reddit… These websites made me feel connected, like I wasn’t missing anything and I was part of those people’s lives. I think that’s what we crave the most: connection. I knew what some guy on the other side of the Atlantic ocean was doing (I’m from Portugal, by the way). I knew what they were thinking. I shared something with them. It was amazing.
But what began as a passion for technology and its ability to connect us to each other became an obsession. I didn’t just want to feel connected, I needed it. I was no longer able to be alone with my thoughts. I became an information junkie, addicted to media being thrown in my face. If I wasn’t checking what other people were up to, I didn’t know what to do.
Grabbing my phone from my pocket became a habit. Even worse, it was unconscious.
“I’ve grabbed my phone. Why do I need it? Oh, I remember. I became unable to be alone with my thoughts.”
I realized how problematic it had became when my girlfriend left the room for a few minutes and in those few minutes I had the phone in my hand with Twitter or reddit opened. I was in the subway and on the rare ocasions that I lifted my eyes, I’d see everyone doing the exact same thing. We were glued to our screens. And that would be fine if we were benefiting from it. But we’re not. We’re not becoming more intelligent, or aware, or kind, or peaceful. The opposite is happening. We’re becoming unable to focus on anything for longer than a few minutes. We read 140 characters at a time and if it’s longer than that, we get bored. I recently read an article that stated the average person spends 127 hours on Instagram. That’s more or less 30 books, considering you read 200 words per minute, on average, and the average book has 50 000 words. This means we could actually be getting new information, expanding our minds, or becoming more intelligent overall. Instead, we choose to see what some celebrity has dressed today… I don’t have the psychology knowledge to explain why that happens, but from a rational point of view, it seems like a really dumb decision, to me.
I had an epiphany one Sunday when I had planned to study for an upcoming exam and wasn’t able to. I started by checking Facebook, to see if anybody had shared something cool. They hadn’t. So I went on reddit and read a few posts. Then it was Twitter time. A few hundred tweets later, I was watching some vlogs on YouTube. Then reddit again. And then Facebook, and then some more tweets. It was 10pm when I realized I had just thrown away a full day that I should have used to study. Worse than that, I tried to think about what I had learned with so much “reading” and I couldn’t remember anything. I had consumed information so fast that nothing stuck to my long term memory. I couldn’t remember one useful piece of information even though I was consuming it for a whole day. Something had to change.
I deleted all the social apps from my phone with infinite streams of content: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, reddit, YouTube, Pinterest. Then feedly. No more articles. Then even kindle. It felt good for a week, but it wasn’t enough. So I disabled also the browser. This ease of getting information makes us feel very powerful but it’s not useful at all. If it’s crucial, I’ll still want to check it when I get home and have my computer. So it can wait. If it’s not important, why waste time checking it?
Now I have the apps that are essential: calculator, calendar, maps, myfitnesspal, notes, phone, and messages. I thought about getting a dumb phone, but there are things that a smartphone can do that are still valuable to me, like counting calories, tracking my workouts, taking notes on the fly and syncing them with my computer, for example. A dumb phone can’t do that.
What I’ve learnt from this experience
I learnt that we’re in the information era, but the ease of accessing new content is not making us more intelligent. More important, though, and maybe more alarming is what our addiction to social media is revealing about us. We’re trying to fill some sort of void in our personal lives by exploring the lives of others. We’re not truly connecting to each other, we’re just empty inside and in need to feel something. Social media is somehow helping with those feelings.
I have relearned to enjoy my time alone. I’ve read a lot more (real books) and I’ve started to write, which is something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I’m able to think about all kinds of things and feel okay when I’m waiting for the bus or subway and I have nothing to do. When I’m with friends, I don’t feel the need to take the phone out of my pocket or show something “cool” that I have seen in some tweet.
Even more worrying is the fact that society is developing some kind of inability to focus. I see people in my college library studying with Facebook open in front of them and people in subway scrolling through their Facebook walls. I don’t understand it but I hope they’re happy with their lives.
I’ll go have a tea now, and appreciate some jazz without distractions.
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Thanks for Reading.
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Thanks for Reading.
Thus Article My smartphone made me someone I didn’t want to become
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