Have Smartphones Destroyed Humanity?

[Boo]

I haven't read this thread so I might be repeating an earlier sentiment. But I almost exclusively use my smartphone to call people and peoples reaction is often 'why didn't you email me' or 'why didn't you text me', it's really odd. People are scared of using their phones... as a phone.

 

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[Andy Black]

I haven't read this thread so I might be repeating an earlier sentiment. But I almost exclusively use my smartphone to call people and peoples reaction is often 'why didn't you email me' or 'why didn't you text me', it's really odd. People are scared of using their phones... as a phone.

Maybe not scared. I prefer a message because I can pick it up and respond in my own time. It’s not interrupting me. Saying that, I’m logging off to ring my mum and have a chat before she goes to bed...

 

[Walter Hay]

anyone got an app idea that helps people stop using social media? lol

The answer is in the very lengthy Guardian article: 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia linked above by @FreeMan. The app does exist.

This incredibly revealing article, that includes sorrowful mea culpas by some of the techies that deliberately developed addictive programs should be compulsory reading, at least for the “Eighty-seven percent of people (who) wake up and go to sleep with their smartphones,” and that includes foolish parents as well as their addicted children.

Unfortunately..... It would have to be drip fed via social media because most of them could not concentrate long enough to completely read the article.

Walter

 

[luniac]

The answer is in the very lengthy Guardian article: 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia linked above by @FreeMan. The app does exist.

This incredibly revealing article, that includes sorrowful mea culpas by some of the techies that deliberately developed addictive programs should be compulsory reading, at least for the “Eighty-seven percent of people (who) wake up and go to sleep with their smartphones,” and that includes foolish parents as well as their addicted children.

Unfortunately..... It would have to be drip fed via social media because most of them could not concentrate long enough to completely read the article.

Walter

yea I read it before, it is what it is I guess.
Sometimes the F*ck This Event lies at rock bottom... or something.

 

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[Cnc1]

My friends' kid turned two the other day. As a present, I gave him a children's animal book. He tried to swipe the pictures but the animals did not move and after that, he tossed the book away.

Sad.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Unfortunately..... It would have to be drip fed via social media because most of them could not concentrate long enough to completely read the article.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[Ninjakid]

Yes they have.

SMARTPHONES ARE THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF HUMANITY.

Look at the science.

New study claims Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are linked to depression

Smartphones keep you wired in, so you can keep looking at things which keep you depressed and addicted so corporations can make money off of you.

Smartphone Addiction

The study above shows most people suffer from anxiety MINUTES AFTER MISPLACING THEIR PHONE.

That device you have in your pocket, it knows everything about you and sells it to the highest bidder.

And it's always there to show you pictures of people impossibly more attractive/richer/happier than you.

People buy more when they're depressed. You think anyone's childhood dream was to become an addict?

Your brain is easily manipulated. Just look at anyone who watches CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc. They literally all sound the same as each other.

I'm a millennial, but I didn't get my first smartphone until I was 18. I remember a time when there was one PC in the house with dial-up internet.

But kids now have had access to smarthphones since they were born. They don't grow up playing with toy cars or barbies. They grow up playing with phones and tablets.

Their growing brains are hooked on the dopamine rewards that come from those screens. Their developing brains will be permanently damaged by the time they grow up. There's literally no hope for them.

But don't worry it gets better. If you thought we we were getting hooked on the pseudo-reality before...

This is what we have coming.

When the generation arrives that is hooked on this, will they even know what reality is without being connected by the neural hive mind?

We will stop reproducing willingly. Machines are taking over that too.

What is a robot sex doll, how much do they cost and what is the sex robot brothel in Paris?

And humans won't even be directing this system. The machines will.

That's what AI is for. AI can do everything your brain can do, but faster and more efficient.

AI is already used to track our emotions and show us advertising to make us buy.

AI could run the whole show. Run the corporations, run nations, and run our own minds.

And this is how humanity ends. It won't end by humans being killed off by nukes or climate change. It will end by being stripped of the very things that make us human.

 

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[Startup Steve]

Be the content creator not the content consumer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

New study claims Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are linked to depression

Not surprising.

I've realized that Social Media has caused a net negative effect on my well being over the years. Don't have any biz pages or any groups, so cut the cord for good.

My "Presence" now consists of...

-> This Site.
-> Creative Projects on a "mynamexyz.com" WP site.
-> 2 Slack Groups with people I actually give a shit about.

F*** feeling miserable comparing your existence to some randoms on the net.

edit: on a side note, going the extra mile and limiting time spent on computers in general. Ironic considering I run an online business, but would be rather put in a position to be using tech as a tool, and not the tech using me.

 

[The Abundant Man]

Yes they have.

SMARTPHONES ARE THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF HUMANITY.

Look at the science.



Smartphones keep you wired in, so you can keep looking at things which keep you depressed and addicted so corporations can make money off of you.

Smartphone Addiction

The study above shows most people suffer from anxiety MINUTES AFTER MISPLACING THEIR PHONE.

That device you have in your pocket, it knows everything about you and sells it to the highest bidder.

And it's always there to show you pictures of people impossibly more attractive/richer/happier than you.

People buy more when they're depressed. You think anyone's childhood dream was to become an addict?

Your brain is easily manipulated. Just look at anyone who watches CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc. They literally all sound the same as each other.

I'm a millennial, but I didn't get my first smartphone until I was 18. I remember a time when there was one PC in the house with dial-up internet.

But kids now have had access to smarthphones since they were born. They don't grow up playing with toy cars or barbies. They grow up playing with phones and tablets.

Their growing brains are hooked on the dopamine rewards that come from those screens. Their developing brains will be permanently damaged by the time they grow up. There's literally no hope for them.

But don't worry it gets better. If you thought we we were getting hooked on the pseudo-reality before...

This is what we have coming.

When the generation arrives that is hooked on this, will they even know what reality is without being connected by the neural hive mind?

We will stop reproducing willingly. Machines are taking over that too.

What is a robot sex doll, how much do they cost and what is the sex robot brothel in Paris?

And humans won't even be directing this system. The machines will.

That's what AI is for. AI can do everything your brain can do, but faster and more efficient.

AI is already used to track our emotions and show us advertising to make us buy.

AI could run the whole show. Run the corporations, run nations, and run our own minds.

And this is how humanity ends. It won't end by humans being killed off by nukes or climate change. It will end by being stripped of the very things that make us human.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGZiLMGdCE0

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSp1dM2Vj48


LOL @ robots replacing prostitutes.

 

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[B. Cole]

I'm sure the world will go to it, but I'd be just fine if everything but navigational apps and emergency communications were disabled when a phone enters a vehicle in drive.

Going down the interstate today from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, it was scary the number of people doing 75 mph, staring at their phones.

Another phone related bit of trivia -

My day job (local government) - We are in the midst of the 5G transmission war between major wireless providers. There are no laws preventing installation of said transmitters on public light poles, power poles, etc. In some cases, law states we must comply and even accommodate such installations.

5G signal doesn't travel as far as 4G, so more micro-transmitters (200 pounds, the size of a mini fridge hanging on our poles) must be installed to get equivalent coverage. We are looking at transmitters being installed several blocks apart and closer in areas of high network use. The goal of these competitive providers is to claim pole space and saturate every bit of meaningful airspace with 5G signal to win the "coverage war".

The juicy part - the signal from a 5G transmitter can kill vegetation within a certain radius of the transmitter. Think about that when you hold your new 5G phone to your face.

 

[The Abundant Man]

I'm sure the world will go to it, but I'd be just fine if everything but navigational apps and emergency communications were disabled when a phone enters a vehicle in drive.

Going down the interstate today from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, it was scary the number of people doing 75 mph, staring at their phones.

Washington state passed a law where police can arrest you for driving with your phone

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[rogue synthetic]

Down here we've had a no phones while driving law for close to ten years. Right now looking out my window (I'm near a traffic light on a busy road) I won't have to wait five minutes to see at least one driver with head to phone.

The potential costs don't even register compared to the incentive to plug in. (It doesn't hurt that there is virtually zero risk of being caught thanks to non existent enforcement, as with most feel good policies... )

 

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[Walter Hay]

My friends' kid turned two the other day. As a present, I gave him a children's animal book. He tried to swipe the pictures but the animals did not move and after that, he tossed the book away.

Sad.

Walter

 

[luniac]

My friends' kid turned two the other day. As a present, I gave him a children's animal book. He tried to swipe the pictures but the animals did not move and after that, he tossed the book away.

Sad.

thats one of the scariest things ive ever heard.

 

[luniac]

I'm sure the world will go to it, but I'd be just fine if everything but navigational apps and emergency communications were disabled when a phone enters a vehicle in drive.

Going down the interstate today from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, it was scary the number of people doing 75 mph, staring at their phones.

Another phone related bit of trivia -

My day job (local government) - We are in the midst of the 5G transmission war between major wireless providers. There are no laws preventing installation of said transmitters on public light poles, power poles, etc. In some cases, law states we must comply and even accommodate such installations.

5G signal doesn't travel as far as 4G, so more micro-transmitters (200 pounds, the size of a mini fridge hanging on our poles) must be installed to get equivalent coverage. We are looking at transmitters being installed several blocks apart and closer in areas of high network use. The goal of these competitive providers is to claim pole space and saturate every bit of meaningful airspace with 5G signal to win the "coverage war".

The juicy part - the signal from a 5G transmitter can kill vegetation within a certain radius of the transmitter. Think about that when you hold your new 5G phone to your face all day.

jesus christ, i live in nyc, so when 5G goes full force is our future collective health a pandoras box?
man... i swear the downfall of mankind will be from something like this.


Can we do a global poll:
Would you rather...
1)Have the fastest internet ever in history forever?
2)Have a world with bees, birds, and trees in it?

 

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[GoGetter24]

Nope, the shittyness of the previous generation raising them, and the related institution of school, has done the damage to this generation.

Handing your kids highly stimulative digital devices from a young age with only "keep them out of my hair" on one's selfish mind, is just a specific form and manifestation of parental shittyness, among probably a wide array of other ways of being a shitty responsibility-abdicating parent one no doubt indulges in as a baby boomer or gen x.

 

[jon.M]

Down here we've had a no phones while driving law for close to ten years. Right now looking out my window (I'm near a traffic light on a busy road) I won't have to wait five minutes to see at least one driver with head to phone.

The potential costs don't even register compared to the incentive to plug in. (It doesn't hurt that there is virtually zero risk of being caught thanks to non existent enforcement, as with most feel good policies... )

I constantly see the same thing, even thought it's prohibited here as well. To be honest, it pisses me off to see people value whatever worthless thing they're looking at on their phone over human life and safety. It's sickening when you think about it.

 

[B. Cole]

jesus christ, i live in nyc, so when 5G goes full force is our future collective health a pandoras box?
man... i swear the downfall of mankind will be from something like this.


Can we do a global poll:
Would you rather...
1)Have the fastest internet ever in history forever?
2)Have a world with bees, birds, and trees in it?

5G Radiation Dangers - 11 Reasons To Be Concerned | ElectricSense

Here's another lovely thing to consider - beyond our own phones and routers emitting 5G, utility companies are switching to smart meters. This means that every single house will have a 5G transmitting meter on the side of it, talking back to the company for your usage and billing.

This is the replacement for the meter man that comes out once a month to manually read your usage.

 

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[Walter Hay]

Nope, the sh*ttyness of the previous generation raising them, and the related institution of school, has done the damage to this generation.

Handing your kids highly stimulative digital devices from a young age with only "keep them out of my hair" on one's selfish mind, is just a specific form and manifestation of parental sh*ttyness, among probably a wide array of other ways of being a sh*tty responsibility-abdicating parent one no doubt indulges in as a baby boomer or gen x.

This amounts to child abuse. Parents are effectively depriving their children of their childhood when they abdicate their parental responsibilities and delegate child care to the likes of FaceBook, and the various other manipulative entertainment their children find on the screen.

Walter

 

[ChrisV]

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

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

Jesus F——, this is brutal. But unfortunately, it’s just scratching the surface. Remember all that protectionism of the 90s where people thought their kids were gonna get abducted (abductions by strangers are SO rare)... well that’s causing a skyrocketing of depression. It’s also the reason all these kids want Safe Spaces and Trigger earnings. It’s a generaltion if Boys in the Bubble. If you look there’s a talk called “the coddling of the American Mind” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff. The specific one where he goes into the data is the YT video from American Enterprise Institute.

As for your question, is it destroying a generation? I think the data is clear.

 

[GoGetter24]

This amounts to child abuse.

It's a question I've pondered: at what point does negligence become malice?

For instance, if person A cooks food with peanuts in it for person B, and it makes person B sick, we say its just naivety: he didn't know.
But if A is told "some of the people who'll eat this have peanut allergies", and A does it anyway because they don't care, and B gets sick, we call it negligence.
But if A is told "person B has a peanut allergy", and they go ahead and cook food with peanuts and give it to B, we call that malice.

The interesting case is between the last two cases. What if person A is told nothing, but notices a pattern that person B gets sick whenever they're given peanuts -- and then continues to give peanuts at the same rate. What if they deliberately ignore the pattern, tell themselves "coincidence" week in week out, in order to absolve themselves of what they're doing? Unless they're simply too stupid to actually see that pattern, I'd call that malice.

Most of what these parents are doing would be considered just negligence -- i.e. they don't care, they're not willing to put the effort in to avoid their kids being stunted. But at a certain stage, when they see their kids being stunted weirdos and then continue their rearing exactly the same, that's anti-child malice.

 

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[Olimac21]

Golden question (at least for me haha): How do you manage your screen time? Also I notice when I am feeling more negative or bored I use my cell phone 4 times more than when I am engaged or having fun at work or life in general.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Golden question (at least for me haha): How do you manage your screen time? Also I notice when I am feeling more negative or bored I use my cell phone 4 times more than when I am engaged or having fun at work or life in general.

I've been trying (struggling) to delineate "screen time" as only WORK time. Meaning, I'm in my office working or managing something relating to work. Outside of that, I try not to use my phone for anything but music at the gym or texting / phone communication.

For instance, if I sit on my patio and have a cigar, enjoying the beautiful desert mountain scenery, the PHONE/DEVICES are off limits. I've been reading books, magazines, or just sitting there meditating.

When we play poker (hint: we're due for a game mofos!) the phones have to be away from the table.

It's a question I've pondered: at what point does negligence become malice?

The human race has a monopoly on malice. I won't hold my breath for change in behavior, especially when it comes to something perceived as pleasurable or self-involved. It's much easier to dump an iPad on your kid than it is to actually sit there and play Chutes and Ladders.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

And I thought *my* tinfoil hat was screwed on tight.

Gang,

The best study of life is how it is, not how we wish it would be.

Technology isn't going away anytime soon.

But it's just like anything else: if it meets your needs at a high level, it becomes an addiction.

Same goes for drugs, alcohol, sex, working out, posting on forums, reading books, climbing trees, dressing a certain way -- literally every behavior is addicting *if* it's meeting your needs.

Here's the deal:

Love and hate are 2 sides of the same coin. Meaning -- there's tons of passion and obsession directed towards that object... and that's exactly what it is... an object.

If computers, or phones, or this internet fad has such a tight hold over you that it literally causes you to get angry typing about it... on the internet... then there's a bigger challenge here.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

When you disassociate from something, that's when it doesn't hold power over you. It's a tool. Just like everything else. I have no love or hate for a hammer -- I just use it to hit the nail when I need to.

I don't love or hate facebook, twitter, snapchat, instagram, or tinder -- I just use it to nail when I need to.

 

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[rogue synthetic]

About a year ago my two toddlers "discovered" TV. That means, my wife and I figured out they'd be quiet for a few minutes if there was a cartoon on.

Now, I've put my foot down that they won't have access to addiction-tech until sometime (much, much) later.

But a few months ago I realized I wasn't doing much better by letting them watch TV for more than short stretches. It's easy to forget this now with all the panic about the handheld dopamine factories, but TV is still passive consumption time.

We unplugged them and, after a few complaints, they went back to playing with their toys.

It's night and day difference. They'd sit in front of the TV for 8 hours or more if we'd let them, just lying there in a daze.

Without the electronic tranquilizer, they're playing with each other and their physical toys, actually moving around and doing things.

I've seen some parents go on like it is no big deal, they need to learn to use technology because...(whatever). That argument never convinced me.

Back in the 80s and 90s if you were "good with computers" that meant you had some idea of how the guts of the machine worked. Maybe you knew a little code, maybe you were good at deductively reasoning your way through the Win 95 menus to help dad when the screen went blue. Either way, you had to know something about the machine behind the UI.

If you aren't a developer, the smartphone just is the UI. Kids using these things effortlessly is not a sign that they are good with technology; it's a sign that the technology has become so easy to use that it's no obstacle for a toddler.

Kids don't get to make choices, but they do develop habits and neurological structures. Minimizing the hand-and-eye experience of physical play for immersion in virtual worlds from day one is doing *something*. What that is, exactly, we may not know for another generation.

Hey, it might be nothing. Maybe it's all worrying for nothing and we old codgers just need to get with the times.

Maybe.

The Precautionary Principle is a good rule of thumb here: if you don't understand a complex system, the wisest course of action is to screw around with it as little as possible. Unanticipated side-effects have a way of being unanticipated.

 

[TheCj]

As addictive as smartphones are, I think VR headsets can/will be even more damaging.
I've recently been playing with a Rift headset and after one day of using it too much, noticed effects the next day of it messing with my sense of what is actual reality. I limit it too 30min a week now (if that) and only use it for experiences that would partake in real life. It definitely takes the dopamine thing to a new level in that it can rewire the way people react to previous conditions such as fear of heights etc.. Instantly change moods since the feeling of presence is effected and the environment can be manipulated so easily. Live in a shitty place, put on headset and can be in a huge open living room with a ravine view, or on top of a penthouse etc...
With the controllers it is amazing how easily the brain adapts and accepts the new reality.

 

[Seth G.]

I caused myself anxiety and panic attacks by causing my life to get better.

Intriuging headline? Let me explain..

A year or two ago I decided to quit social media completely. I sold my iPhone 5, and bought an Alcatel that you can't even play Snake on in 2d black and white. I deleted FB, instagram, twitter etc. As a result, almost instantly, I lost all my friends - they actually thought by deleting their existence from my life online, I was getting rid of them from my life. They all shunned me, even though I explained I was just deleting FB.
For the first week or two it was hard. Muscle memory almost makes you type "fa" into mozilla and go on facebook.

After this I got bored so spent my free time outside, walking, at the beach etc. And work got more productive.

I would say for a life decision it was one of the best.

I was forced to go back on FB recently, both for access to FB Power Editor and for a friendship/acquaintance I have with the local dog walking group. And now it makes me anxious. I cannot stand to have FB friends. I hate that kind of openness, that transparancy, that lack of privacy in my life. I co ordinate with the main guy of the dog walking club, I have him as an FB friend, people keep adding me, even hot looking women (I am single) and I click decline to all. I get panic attacks when people message me. It is crazy. But people think if you have 1 friend you are a loser... or if you don't post up what you ate for tea, what car you drive, what watch you wear.... the list goes on.

I am so glad and appreciative to have been at school between the 90's and early 2000's, when there was no FB, no camera phones. I really feel sorry for the iPhone generation.

I suppose I'm on the generation on the verge of being the iPhone generation. Social Media can definitely suck. Suck life, suck time, suck focus, suck peace.

That being said @MJ DeMarco, it's like any other power tool or vice. Undeniably useful, necessary even. Fun(?). But misused will just as readily cut your arm off. But should you fear power tools? No... just be mindful of them.

I think there are statistics that are promising... drops in social media usage. And young kids who seem to be finding a balance.

tl;dr: Don't be afraid of social media. Fear isn't your M.O. Learn to use, learn to harness it, learn to let its impact on you be small.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

it's like any other power tool or vice.

You're missing the point.

I know it's a tool. Some could say that small doses of LSD is a "tool" -- but you don't give a small child LSD and reason "Its just a tool to keep him busy." Labeling something a "tool" doesn't minimize the damage it is doing to those who don't have the mental capacity to understand what it's doing to their brain.

I think VR headsets can/will be even more damaging.
I've recently been playing with a Rift headset and after one day of using it too much, noticed effects the next day of it messing with my sense of what is actual reality.

Yea, if we think it's bad now with smartphone mental issues, once VR goes mainstream its going to be a shitshow.

 

[Seth G.]

You're missing the point.

I know it's a tool. Some could say that small doses of LSD is a "tool" -- but you don't give a small child LSD and reason "Its just a tool to keep him busy." Labeling something a "tool" doesn't minimize the damage it is doing to those who don't have the mental capacity to understand what it's doing to their brain.

I think we are on parallel tracks.
What you say is absolutely fair - not being aware can't really be helped without awareness first.

I would argue that the limit or extent of those effects are less a product of the devices themselves and more a product of the person wielding them.

Channeling our inner Spock here...
There exist people who have facebook accounts and smartphones and rarely touch them and are unanchored/undamaged/unphased by their presence.

It would stand to reason then that the 'fault' (if we could call it that) isn't the devices themselves but in how they are used.

Can they be damaging?

Absolutely. Can they be building, connecting, empowering, worthy of business pursuits and crazy wealth generators? Also absolutely. Therefore, the devices themselves are probably inert by themselves.

It's how we combine our habits/mindsets/use/approaches with the device that yields a neutral, positive, negative outcome.

Self-awareness seems to be the key.

For some, that means nothing and staying on facebook and with the iPhone 87 for a healthy use.

For others, it means no smartphone or social media for a healthy use.

There isn't a single right answer to the 'mental damage from cellphones' question.

That being said, I'm all about limiting our use. I use a chrome extension called "StayFocusd" that explicitly blocks access to those sites after a defined period of time and it's awesome.

Unconsciously check facebook? Not today!

How about a redirect to Fastlane Forum or your business site Seth.
~~

All in all, I think it's awesome to acknowledge that they are dangerous and can be debilitating and we need to be mindful of them.