When you build a rapport with a person over a long period of time you begin to learn them quite well. You create a bond and you know what they like, dislike, and how they will react in certain situations. You also know when you have been spending too much time together and need a breather. This is the phase many of us are reaching in one relationship in particular. That is the relationship we have with our devices. After all, the average Facebook user spends one-sixteenth of their day on that one site alone. If that is the case, I can only cringe thinking about the total amount of smartphone overload we get each day.
Technology and I in the Past
I bought my first iPhone five-and-a-half years ago when I landed my first full-time job after college. Prior to that, I was a broke college kid with a track phone that was less than hi-tech. I was excited to finally catch up with new technology and all of the apps that came with it. Soon enough, I was entranced by this device, along with the rest of the world. I began picking up my phone for no reason, which brought on comments from my father, straightforwardly stating, “You’re addicted!” Of course, I would respond with, “No I am not!” Lies. I grew a habit of refreshing timelines until something new popped up on my screen. Tristan Harris, a former product manager at Google, compared this habit to gambling. In an interview with Anderson Cooper he ingeniously refers to his phone as a slot machine stating, “Well, every time I check my phone, I’m playing the slot machine to see, ‘What did I get?’…Someone pulls a lever, sometimes they get a reward…” Even Loren Brichter, who created the widely used pull-to-refresh feature, cannot argue Harris’s comparison.
-Loren Brichter
I may have consciously known that I was getting slightly obsessed with my phone, but what I didn’t realize was that it also had a hand in my conformity. Since my phone knew me so well it was pushing certain advertisements, articles, and suggestions through to all of my apps. The never-ending scrolls made it easy for me to click one link and then another and another. Each click led to a similarly publicized agenda. The article How Silicon Valley is Erasing your Individuality dives deeper into this phenomenon calling it the “Filter Bubble.” This Filter Bubble gives us countless sources that tell us the same information, which leads us to take that information as gospel.
“Facebook has nurtured two hive minds, each residing in an information ecosystem that yields head-nodding agreement and penalizes dissenting views.”
-Franklin Foer
Like many others, I fell victim to the rabbit hole. I formed opinions on things that I didn’t know enough about and judged others for their opposing views. However, time went on and I began thinking past my phone screen. Headlines do not speak a whole truth.
Technology and I in the Present
I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I came on here and wrote about how all of my phone habits have changed. Saying that I am no longer addicted to its dopamine-inducing draw and that I don’t mindlessly scroll Instagram for an hour at a time. Still, my relationship with my phone has evolved. This is because I am now aware of the effects my phone has on society and me. Before, I knew I was on my phone too much, but I wasn’t consciously thinking about the repercussions of that. Through this enlightenment I have seen improvement.
In Deep Work by Cal Newport we circle around the idea that we are all distracted. Distracted at home and at work. In turn, this affects our quality of output. When speaking of emails, instant messages and open floor spaces in the workplace Cal states, “…these trends actively decrease one’s ability to go deep.” After reading his comments on the topic I felt a sense of pride. This is because I recently changed the way I work at my office. I found myself being a slave to my phone, even at work. I was answering emails in the middle of a project and it jarred my creative process as a graphic designer. I decided to give myself set times to check my phone and emails so that I could power through my projects and enter a state of deep work. Reading the advantages to putting emails to the side for a period of time gave me hope. Maybe I really am evolving to a point that will leave me utilizing technology instead of depending on it.
I have also tried to incorporate some good practices into my home life as it relates to technology. My husband and I have taken part in the “no phone at dinner trend.” Whether we are at a restaurant or sitting at our kitchen table, we choose to put the phones away so that we can focus on each other. I can’t say it happens at everydinner, but for the most part we comply and it feels good.
Utilizing the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” tool that was released in iOS 11 is another way I try to keep my phone down. I, ironically, am using technology to keep me away from it. Our need for attention has gotten so bad that we can no longer go for a ten-minute drive without needing to know why our phone has gone off. This has resulted in distracted driving becoming the second most common cause of unsafe driving, the first being speeding. According to a study done by EverQuote, an auto insurance company, 80% of their consumers have acquired the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature. Of those 80%, 75% say it does help them become less distracted drivers. As a user of the feature myself, I would have to agree. If I do not know that I am getting notifications to my phone I am not anxious to reach for it.
Technology and I in the Future
I am not sure where mine and technologies relationship is going to go. What I hope for is a balance. As Loren Brichter said, smartphones are useful tools and if I can reach a point of technology utilization versus addiction that would be a great feat.
Samantha Mantiglia 