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Originally posted on May 18, 2016.
In an 80-minute class for which I recently guest-lectured, the instructor (a master teacher) gave students a mid-class break to enable them to stretch and talk to classmates. What a great way to build community, I thought. Alas, two-thirds of the class never moved. Rather, they pulled out their smart phones and sat staring at their screens. There was no face-to-face conversation, just solemn silence.
SYDA Productions/Shuttershock
When I recounted that story to tech expert psychologist Larry Rosen (co-author of The Distracted Brain: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World and author of iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us) he replied that āI see this all the time EVERYWHERE.ā
The students I observed donāt exemplify The Onionās recent parody (āBrain-Dead Teen, Only Capable of Rolling Eyes and Texting, To Be Euthanizedā). But they did bring to mind the recent Western Psychological Association presentation by Rosenās students, Stephanie Elias, Joshua Lozano, and Jonathan Bentley. They reported data on smartphone usage by 216 California State University, Dominguez Hills students, as recorded by a phone app. The stunning result: In an average day, the students unlocked their phones 56 times and spent 220 minutesā3.7 hoursāconnected. Moreover, more compulsive technology use not only drains time from eyeball-to-eyeball conversation but also predicts poorer course performance.
Todayās technology is āso user-friendly that the very use fosters our obsessions, dependence, and stress reactions,ā says Rosen in iDisorder. If smartphones interfere with āhaving social relationships, then it is a problem, and it really is what I consider an iDisorder.ā As Steven Pinker has written, āThe solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life.ā We can live intentionallyāby managing our time, blocking distracting online friends, turning off or leaving behind our mobile devices, or even going on a social media fast or dietāall in pursuit of our important goals.
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