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Have Smartphones Destroyed Humanity?

MJ DeMarco

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Great article... bit of a long read, but good.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

The more time teens spend looking at screens, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression.

c42ed8709.jpg
 
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Guest24480

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I saw this presentation the other day about smartphones and information overload, and it's a real problem that I noticed has even been affecting my own life lately. I tend to absorb too much information on a daily basis and not take a moment to be with my own thoughts and really think through things like I used to. I could sense that it was inhibiting that creative spark I used to have.

While I used to read on the bus and listen to podcasts or music while walking, now I make it a point to unplug and be at peace during transitions throughout my day, and my productivity and creativity during working hours have increased as a result.

It's not just social media, even an abundance of beneficial information can be too much sometimes.
 

amp0193

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My wife has worked at a daycare for almost 10 years, and says that the 4 and 5 year olds she have now (vs. when she started), have zero imagination. None. They don't even know how to play with toys.

She says that our 2-year-old is leaps and bounds above them in this area (she gets close to zero screen time).


It's just really sad.
 

Runum

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I was just writing a paper about this, not finished. I know that I am addicted to non-stop information. Was in a place recently with no cell, TV, internet, radio, or outside communication for 2 days. The first day was hell. I didn't know the weather, politics, local and national situations, road conditions, or any other hazard. I was responsible for my family's safety and had no information to assess threats.

The smart phones, internet, media, google, FB, have all combined to tap into our survival instinct. We naturally want more information faster to assess opportunities and threats earlier. However, everything seems to be threatening us now 24/7.

To be a new mom right now would be scary because there are thousands of ways to unintentionally injure you newborn, it flashes up on the FB news feed constantly.

Every weather event is an emergency now.

Trying to take care of your health is always urgent and the conflicting information is attacking you with the intensity of a fire hose.

We all seem to feel threatened all the time from all angles, non stop.

It is affecting my comfort level, my sleep patterns, and the things I do for fun. It's much safer and easier to sit and watch netflix than go for a hike or paddle a river. The wild animals out there may kill you. I used to hike all the time as a kid and the wild animals were out there at that time too. Now, information has made me more than cautious, paranoid.

Our leaders seem to want us scared all the time too. The media knows if it bleeds it leads so we are inundated with murders, riots, and unrest.

Humans are not built to operate in the fight or flight mode 24/7 indefinitely. People are stressed and getting tired of the information overload. The parents are passing this intensity on to their kids. My students are afraid of everything and have no experience at improv playing. Everything must be stimulating and exciting but no personal threat.

I have seriously been considering tossing my smartphone in the ocean and going back to an old flip phone.

The public needs filters but they don't know how to self regulate. Their hunger and need for survival is too strong. The perceived threats are too intense. They dare not disengage now because they may miss something important.

Since the trend is for this stimulation to continue increasing, I am concerned what the next level will bring. Internet glasses, internet access implanted?

Where is the get off button?

Do all cultures around the world have this much over stimulation?
 
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AllenCrawley

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Was in a place recently with no cell, TV, internet, radio, or outside communication for 2 days. The first day was hell. I didn't know the weather, politics, local and national situations, road conditions, or any other hazard. I was responsible for my family's safety and had no information to assess threats.
We went on a Grand Canyon Whitewater trip recently. Those three days without access to the "outside" world were bliss. I thought it'd drive me crazy not having that access.
 

amp0193

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I have seriously been considering tossing my smartphone in the ocean and going back to an old flip phone.


Do all cultures around the world have this much over stimulation?

Stop considering, just give it a try. "Split test" your life and see if it improves. What will it cost you... $20? You'll probably suffer withdrawls for 2-3 weeks, so give it at least 4-6 weeks as a test.

I cut out news 2 or 3 years ago. My level of fear or concern about life (and the things that I can have no impact on whatsoever) has gone way, way down. If it's major news... you'll hear about it anyways.

I deleted my facebook 3 years ago, as I was experiencing the same sort of depression symptoms that the article mentioned about teens. Knowing that I wasn't at a party or get together, or getting that cool job, or doing that awesome thing. It was a weight off my shoulders when I deleted it. I made another one a few months ago... because I had to make one to create a new business account, but I've got the newsfeed blocked through a Chrome plug-in. I don't have the facebook app on my phone.

I didn't get a smartphone until a few months ago when I needed one to run my business's Instagram. I don't really have any apps on it, other than instagram, some photo editing apps, and shopify (so I can hear that cha-ching sound). I basically use it like a flip phone.

When I'm off-work, and with the family, the phone is charging in some other room. My daughter gets my face for hours every day, and I listen and respond to everything she says. None of this "uh-huh" business.

I get out of the house multiple times a day, and try to have lunch with a friend once a week.

On our flight to Europe, my toddler didn't watch any movies, I sat and played with her for 5 hours straight between naps.

My kids don't watch ipad in the car. F*ck, we don't even drive the car, we bicycle everywhere, every day. My son's first bike ride was at 5 days old. On a bike you can see, smell, hear, and feel the world around you.

It's not that my 2.5 year old daughter isn't aware of the phone, or hasn't used it ever. She probably cries at me 3 times a day when I say "no" to if she can use a phone. But she's over it in 10 seconds as I sit down next to her with a book. Just say no, it's not that hard. If they cry, let em' cry, they'll learn to stop asking.

We don't have a TV in our house, but we have some bookshelves and a large backyard.

When my daughter wants a pickle from the pool concession stand, I give her a dollar and make her go ask for one. She will learn to talk to people.

Speaking of talking to people, none of my neighbors know each other. You could probably show me a picture of all of my neighbors, and I wouldn't even recognize 90% of them. So I'm hosting our first semi-annual block party in the fall, and going to get a city permit to close the street. Time to engage the people around me, face to face. F*ck nextdoor.

I read a post recently by @JScott (I think) who said he took his kids to everything business related. They grew up seeing the ins and outs of the business. I thought that was pretty cool. So last week I took my daughter along to go check out warehouses with a couple real estate agents. I didn't leave her in a chair in the corner with a phone. I held her and she listened to the grown ups talk. They showed up in their suits, we showed up in our flip flops. Afterwards, they went back to work, and we had a picnic in the forest, and then played in the mud on the riverbank.


The matrix is real, and it's in your pocket.
 
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7.62x51

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Switched to a flip phone yesterday as a personal experiment.

Not sure yet if this is going to be a good idea but I think that being disconnected from the hive mind is worth some minor inconveniences.
 
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ApparentHorizon

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Socrates said we shouldn't write things down because our memory will weaken.

Pundits said we shouldn't watch TV because we'll never talk to each other.

Bloggers say millennials/iGen-ers don't interact with each other because we're in our social media, and it's not real.

In a couple of decades, we'll be looking up from our smartphones and telling our kids and grandkids to get out of Virtual Reality.

And then they'll get out of virtual reality and tell their offspring (who were conceived in an artificial womb) to transfer their conscience back from the worldwide superbrain into the real world.

WkHHpZ1.jpg

(Meme'd image, but it speaks volume to our reaction to technology)

oculus-1200x799.jpg


Charlie Munger, in his 25 Cognitive Biases of Human Misjudgment speech, brought up an important point about psychology studies: They're hard to conduct with multiple effects at once.

I only skimmed the article, and although the chart has merit, the technology revolution basically saved my life.

Growing up, family was extremely slow lane. Some of them downright destructive. "Friends" were basically one step from the bottom of the barrel, in a less than desirable part of town.

The first awakening came from a game called Age of Empires. Basically, you have a very small amount of resources to start out, and you use them to get more resources. You use those new resources to build your empire. (Sound familiar?)

Next was chatrooms and online forums. (TFL book played a huge role) Those opened my eyes to the diversity of people around the world. With no one to turn to at home, the natural instinct was to go back online. It sucks us in because of the quick dopamine payoff. But like signing a contract with the devil, it has it's downsides.

Hmm....what if you could solve those problems by looking them up? (Like a loophole in the contract)

You're depressed? You're not sleeping? No friends? No dates or sexy time?
- improve your life, get a skill so you can show off on FB
- go outside or take vitamin d3 supplements, buy some dumbbells to exercise
- buy a better mattress and install F.lux on your computer, condition your mind to only use your bed for sleep
- Join a local community where likeminded people gather, or move to a city that has one
- Download tinder

As the article pointed out it gives people a platform for what they already do. Maybe we've not yet adapted to the flood information online, but as humans we're extremely malleable to our environments. Maybe in a generation or two, when the shock of the information age wears off, they'll look back at us and say, look at those primitives. They can't filter through more than 5 clickbait articles a day without losing their minds.

Point is...We've invented worse, like the atomic bomb. Forgot where I heard it, but "it's not the technology itself, but our application of it."
 

Olimac21

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It depends how you use it, especially for teenagers is very bad because they have a slot machine in their hands 24/7 with Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and who knows what else.
 

Jurica22

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I've deleted Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram from my phone 3 weeks ago.
Since then my overall life quality increased. Although I can't talk with my friends 24/7 like before, I'm happier.
When I work on something it's so easier to concetrete without your phone distracting you. Whenever I get the urge to check social media, I grab a book and start reading.
And this isn't just for work related stuff, it's also true for social interactions. You give 100% of your attention to the person you're interacting with and it shows.
 
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Slappz

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School aged kids are in a real tough spot coming up in the iGen age, they are forming habits that will take years to undo. Even as an adult I see many peers fall into the same trap, but luckily some are aware that it's a problem, the younger generation doesn't have a clue yet.

However, this trend does swing both ways. I make nearly all my income from users on their phones, obviously that would be impossible 10 years ago.
 

amp0193

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Point is...We've invented worse, like the atomic bomb. Forgot where I heard it, but "it's not the technology itself, but our application of it."

Well, of course. Nothing wrong with tech, per se.

I don't think anyone is arguing that.

The problem is that people are letting those with no self-control (children) ruin their lives with it, by not teaching or requiring moderation of them.
 

amp0193

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However, this trend does swing both ways. I make nearly all my income from users on their phones, obviously that would be impossible 10 years ago.

Phones/tech can be a powerful force for good.

Imagine the intelligence of a generation that utilized the device in their pocket to regularly access the entirety of human knowledge, instead of to play games and dick around.

It would be unreal.
 
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Ornlu The Wolf

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[I haven't read the article]

Statistics can be manipulated, but it's true that many kids (even my younger brother) lacks imagination and the natural drive to seek out new things.

Maybe this is because of the parents.

We grow up learning from our parents.

Smartphones are means of both communication and information. It lets us gather even more info than in the past, so I see it's positive not negative.

Woof.
 

rollerskates

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From what I've seen, it's the permissiveness of the parents that is to blame. Why not have kids turn in their phones at 9 pm, during homework, meal times, and when the family is in the car? Oh, and at church, but that really shouldn't need to be said. I've observed friends at dinner and realized the reason they don't is because they too have their faces in their phones. I agree that once kids are old enough to be out doing things with friends that they need some kind of phone, but it doesn't have to be a smart phone.
 

MidwestLandlord

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To me, this is "personal boundary" issue.

Just because I have a smartphone in my pocket does NOT mean I am available 24/7

I send 75% of calls to voicemail, I call back when I feel like it. All of my employees and family know to call back immediately if it is an emergency and I'll answer. I only allow certain employees to text me (or message app), and only if it is NOT urgent. This keeps my employees from spamming me with a text every time they have a thought they feel they need to share. If I do get a text/skype/FB message about something that is not important, I ignore it...I'll respond to them when I see them.

I scan the front page of 2 news sources every morning, mostly to keep track of the markets, and that's it.

Friends or family that spend too much time on their phone when I'm with them? They get dropped from my life fast.

My parents gave tablets to my kids as a gift, we gave them back. Were they upset? Sure, (kids and grandparents) but this dad does not allow his kids to have tech.

I've taught my kids that social media is just like a drug (compared it to alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine) and that it's only OK in small doses. My 9 year old will tell you how Facebook is not real and that people lie to make themselves look good as she's already noticed her friends lying on Facebook.

Anyway, personal boundaries and self-respect. If I can teach my kids that, they'll be OK no matter what new tech comes at them in the future.

It makes relationships harder for everyone though, no doubt. In all age groups, but especially younger people. I know a few highschool aged kids (male and female), they are very lonely people, and I don't think any of them have ever dated (they aren't losers either)
 
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ApparentHorizon

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Well, of course. Nothing wrong with tech, per se.

I don't think anyone is arguing that.

The problem is that people are letting those with no self-control (children) ruin their lives with it, by not teaching or requiring moderation of them.

Stop me if you've heard these:
"Are violent video games making our kids aggressive?"
"Are TVs turning our kids into zombies?"
"Is YouTube shortening our attention span?"
"Is Twitter causing illiteracy?"
"Has texting turned our kids antisocial"?

The subject of the study (or half-assed opinion piece) is almost always the tech itself.

The one linked in this thread does a better job of getting to root cause. But if you type any of these headlines into G, $100 says all front page articles are just bashing the tech itself...rather than our fallible brain and what to do about it.

The problem is that people are letting those with no self-control (children) ruin their lives with it, by not teaching or requiring moderation of them.

Of course, and it's not just tech. Gotta teach manners, to speak, to write, to not do drugs, to have safe sex, add to that screens in moderation. We're only in the beginning of the tech revolution, in time we'll adapt and turn it into an overall positive. :) (at least people on this forum will)

There's a great psychology blog I frequent that gets closer to root causes of what we do, highly recommended:
Higher Anxiety Linked To What You're Probably Doing Right Now - PsyBlog
 

amp0193

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From what I've seen, it's the permissiveness of the parents that is to blame.

It's a generation of wussy parents, you're right.

"No." is not in the vocabulary of many of today's parents.
 
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AA1980

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Theres a need in there somewhere.

Sure there's a need there but I'm not sure the solution is something that you or I or any other individual can develop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MidwestLandlord

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Good practice; it puts you in control of the call. Answering puts you in reaction mode. I call back 2 mins later

I sometimes take several hours, even days to call back if it doesn't hurt my customer service (like calling a lawyer or government official back, I'll get to it when I feel like it. Customer calls get picked up asap or called back asap. I prioritize it, and there's nothing more important than my customers!)
 

biggeemac

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The information overload causes me endless anxiety. Forgetting my phone at home also causes me anxiety. Having my phone with me, and my phone not dinging, ringing, and basically remaining silent makes me feel pretty good. I have health anxiety now, thanks to the internet and a one year battle with an unknown ailment with my wife. I hate the internet and my cell phone, but can't live without them.
 
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CycleGuy

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I can understand the mental development issues that could potentially be caused by young people being plugged in 24/7.
I still think the good outweighs the bad. Emergency situations and gps come to mind.

Also how many of us on this board rely on a large portion of our revenue from mobile traffic/mobile advertising?
I just checked google analytics and 69% of my website traffic comes from mobile devices. Less than 3 years ago it was 50% vs 50%.
Cheap technology has allowed all types of people to access information at their fingertips.

We all need to make sure we take personal responsibility in making sure our children or future children can socially function in person to person interactions.

Sales and communication skills will become valued in a few years when these kids become adults and many cannot speak in public due to social anxiety.
I will personally make sure my future children can communicate in a normal manner.
 

CycleGuy

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The information overload causes me endless anxiety. Forgetting my phone at home also causes me anxiety. Having my phone with me, and my phone not dinging, ringing, and basically remaining silent makes me feel pretty good. I have health anxiety now, thanks to the internet and a one year battle with an unknown ailment with my wife. I hate the internet and my cell phone, but can't live without them.

I personally put every non-necessity contact on "do not disturb" in my text messages. It allows me to answer friends and family at my convenience in texts. If it's an emergency they can still call. My wife and business associates are the only ones not on do not disturb on my messages.

It will help your anxiety about feeling the need to instantly answer.
 

MJ DeMarco

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The problem is that people are letting those with no self-control (children) ruin their lives with it, by not teaching or requiring moderation of them.

it's the permissiveness of the parents that is to blame.

Basically we're asking people with little discipline to instill discipline to their children, when they cant even do it themselves.

How much different is this than say an addictive drug? And then expecting its user to be disciplined user of it?

I went to the doctor yesterday and had about 5 minutes in the waiting room.

EVERYONE IN THE WAITING ROOM HAD THEIR HEADS DOWN SWIPING AND TAPPING INTO THEIR SMART PHONE.

NO ONE LOOKED UP, NOR AT ONE ANOTHER.

And here's the hook...

Every single person in that room was at least 40 and older.

This isn't just about a millenials or young people, it's about humanity.
 
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MidwestLandlord

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This isn't just about a millenials or young people, it's about humanity.

We've become a world of socially retarded hermits.

Surrounded by people, but still alone.

Sad.

On the plus side, it makes my probably 'less than great' social skills look pretty damn good haha.
 

rollerskates

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I went to the doctor yesterday and had about 5 minutes in the waiting room.

EVERYONE IN THE WAITING ROOM HAD THEIR HEADS DOWN SWIPING AND TAPPING INTO THEIR SMART PHONE.

NO ONE LOOKED UP, NOR AT ONE ANOTHER.

And here's the hook...

Every single person in that room was at least 40 and older.

This isn't just about a millenials or young people, it's about humanity.

I am guilty of this, but I have my face in my tablet in a book. In all fairness, I have spent a great deal of time at doctor's offices in the past year and a half and it's not like I needed to only be distracted for a few minutes. It's like "going for x kind of appt, need 2 books, going for y, need only 1 book"

Besides, you'd want me to have TMF and UNSCRIPTED with me, wouldn't you? ;)
 

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