Today I thought I would talk about smartphones. I think that the smartphone is also some what of a totem or avatar for something that one might call the invasion of technology into our lives.
I say invasion but it could also be viewed as an augmentation of our lives. I think that whether something is benign and benevolent or on the other hand some sort of invasive species that must be curbed is an interesting question.
It seems that smartphones and all the relevant technology around them (wireless internet, cameras, etc) have the potential to provide us with real-life benefits as well as the potential for real-life negatives (like ignoring those around you).
If you spend
Sorry. I was just interrupted by my smartphone letting me know that someone had made an offer on one of my eBay auctions.
So, where were we? Ah yes. If you spent an hour sitting in a restaurant you would most likely observe that a good majority of people while they were waiting for a waiter or waiting for their food would be looking at and playing with their smartphones.
There might even be cases where people would be using their smartphones while they are actually eating. I know I’ve been guilty of this.
Other places that this might occur is in vehicles. In our family if we are going somewhere as a family my wife drives as we need to take the minivan so which has the car seats.
In recent memory I have found myself instantly pulling out my phone when I enter the car and will often us it while we are driving somewhere.
This can be a problem when many times I know that my wife would like to talk as this is often one of the only times when we have a chance to sit down together and the car is the perfect place to have a discussion.
Now I have become very used to being able to have a conversation while looking at my phone. I think that many of us have become used to this.
But what signal am I sending to my wife when she is trying to talk to me and I am looking down at my phone?
I’d imagine that she is used to talking to people who are on their phones (me) and I think that if we really thought about it we both the person listening and the person talking have developed signals to let the other one know that they are listening even though they are using the phone.
And by that I mean that if we are sitting in the front room and I am talking to my wife and she is using her phone I know she is listening because often times she will glance up and acknowledge that she is listening.
If I am talking to her for an extended bit of time and I don’t see this acknowledgment I will often want to stop talking and ask her if she is listening.
I think that just doing something on your smartphone while listening to someone else is a fairly common adaptation.
But why is this so? If my wife is talking to me why can’t I simply put down the smartphone and simply listen to her?
As I just brought that question up in my mind I think that the answer might be that we are afraid of not being engaged or entertained even if for a second.
How often do you find yourself at home watching a television show or movie while at the same time *not* also looking at your smartphone?
I’ve found myself becoming so aware of this that I actually find it unusual when a movie or tv show gets me so engaged that I don’t use my smartphone.
That seems to be the mark of a truly engaging piece of entertainment is one that will make me put down my smartphone and simply pay attention.
But jumping back a bit to my wife and I in the car. I often find myself listening to podcasts in the car. I listen to them almost every time that I am driving myself and will some times listen to them when I’m in the car with my wife.
This is almost always a mistake because in one ear I have a podcast running and I am listening to it and in the other ear I am listening to what my wife is saying.
I say listening but most of the time it is actually *trying* to listen to what my wife is saying because often times I’ve been following along with the podcast and what my wife is saying is getting lost to me.
This is perhaps the worst-case scenario for being distracted by a smartphone. On the one hand she notices that you aren’t using your smartphone but then she also notices that you don’t seem to be listening to you.
She may pick up on cues that you aren’t listening like not answering questions, not acknowledging that you are listening or in the worst-case scenario you have to ask her to repeat herself because you weren’t listening.
So using the smartphone is one way you can be distracted and listening to podcasts is another.
We’ve had smartphones for around 9 years know since the iPhone was introduced and even then I would say that it took a good 4 or 5 years for the smartphone to reach the point where a decent amount off people had one.
Now though every one (at least in America where I live) has a smartphone. We see them on people’s desks at work.
We see people at work using them here and there perhaps typing out a message to someone.
So the question remains. Are smartphones good for us as human beings or are they detrimental?
I would guess that if we went back in time and looked at any sort of new technology from the automobile to the telephone to the television we would see people claiming that this item would harm humanity and society.
But is that the case? Did any of those inventions harm society?
I’d say that it is hard to tell. My best guess is that whether a technology is helpful or harmful to society or humanity is a bit irrelevant.
I think that inventions and technology slowly move into (and out of) use by humans and we utilize them for what ever we as humans want.
The fact that I may be distracted may be a small side effect that may be outweighed by the positive things that the smartphone brings into my life such as instant communication with my wife or sharing photos of my children with my friends and family.
At this point I think that I may step back and start to evaluate if there are areas of my life that I have let the smartphone into too much.
When smartphones or any thing or technology start to degrade your relationships with those around you I think that it may be time to re-evaluate your use of a technology.
But that in it self isn’t the fault of the technology itself but rather the individual using the technology.
Technology itself is neither benign or malevolent. It is simply an inanimate object.
It is us humans who use the tools who ultimately project our own ideas and thoughts about the technology onto it.
If I was in the 1970s I could be someone who watches too much television writing about whether people should watch more or less television and how television has ruined the family dinner time.
All that said I think that I’m going to work on ratcheting down how much interaction I have with my technology so that I ca see if that will increase the interactions I have with the human beings around me.
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