Have Smartphones Destroyed Humanity?

[amp0193]

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.

 

[amp0193]

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.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

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.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

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.

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

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."

 

[MidwestLandlord]

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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[MJ DeMarco]

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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[AllenCrawley]

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.

 

[Runum]

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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[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.

 

[Guest24480]

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.

 

[JAJT]

constant small dopamine hits from social media/tech.

Yeah, smartphones would be perfect if they weren't perfectly and expertly designed to be one of the most addictive things most people interact with.

It was one thing back when blackberries allowed folks to check email on the go - it was a "stop everything, I need to check this" annoyance but not the biggest deal. But now with social media, apps, games, aggregate news sites, videos, etc... literally EVERY piece of downtime is screen time. Even when other people are in front of you!

Playing a game and it's not your turn? Phone.
Talking and you aren't really that interested? Phone.
Beep or ding of any kind? Phone.
Someone else is on their phone and you realize you could be too? Phone.
Taking a piss and figure you have 30 seconds? Phone.
Walking in public? Phone. And bumping into people but who cares because phone.

Humans have effectively killed downtime with smartphones and I think it's generally pretty terrible.

As a tool it's fantastic but as an addiction it's one of the worst things to come around in a long, long while.

 

[Ricoboxing]

look at the bright side, maybe smartphones have decreased teen pregnancies

 

[MidwestLandlord]

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.

 

[amp0193]

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.

 

[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.

 

[andyhaus44]

This video hits the nail on the head...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N8XTUUGYhc

 

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[MidwestLandlord]

It feels like a constant fight against the tablets. I’ve introduced more board games and card games recently. Interestingly, the kids want more and more of the real-life games (they’re even on YouTube trying to work out how to play monopoly- go figure).

I’m hearing “I’m bored” more often. I never thought that would be a good thing, but seems that could be a sign I’m on the right track.

We've been playing tons of board games with the kids!

But yeah, it's a constant battle against technology and peer pressure.

Driving to work this morning at 5:30am

A car stopped in front of me had 2 little kids in the backseat.

One was watching a movie on the screen hooked to the headrest in front of her, the other was playing a game on her phone.

Both were around 8 years old.

I have kids, I get it. It's easy sometimes to park em in front of the TV or whatever and have technology do the parenting for a minute.

But my gosh, at 5:30 in the morning? They can't look out the window? They can't talk to each other? They can't have dad in the front seat spouting off random words of wisdom and lame dad jokes?

 

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[sector7]

Still using a flip phone and have no intention of replacing it.

 

[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.

 

[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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[MJ DeMarco]

Self-awareness seems to be the key.

Agreed, but humans are anything but "self-aware". I guess we differ on our opinion (and faith) on how many humans have the mental capacity to out-think their knee-jerk, lazy, pain-avoiding, dopamine-loving brains. If I had to guesstimate how many humans were "self-aware" I'd put the number at < 1%. And expecting a teenager to be equally self-aware is well, just asinine.

 

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[Mutant]

I've recently begun using my phone in greyscale. As well as being easier on the eye/less harsh, when I first tried switching it over I looked at my home screen (which I was already keeping only a few apps on, with a restful nature background) & found it mildly disappointing. I scrolled through to where I keep the rest of the apps, & noticed the sensation again. I hadn't realised I was finding just looking at the phone rewarding - not any notifications, or open apps - but just literally the colourful, lit-up screen.
Needless to say I keep it on greyscale most of the time now. Highly recommended.

https://lifehacker.com/change-your-screen-to-grayscale-to-combat-phone-addicti-1795821843

Also, on the subject of PSAs:

 

[7.62x51]

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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[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

 

[Walter Hay]

At one time I was a volunteer driving a long-distance school bus for a private school. The kids' ages ranged from 5 to 11.

When I began, those who weren't on their tablets etc., were rowdy.

One morning I began telling them a story that I made up as I drove. The transformation I saw in those kids was amazing. They settled down and all listened intently.

That afternoon when I picked them up at the school they begged for more. Even the older ones were enthralled with the adventures of the flea with the exploding knee. For the rest of my time driving that bus the routine was the same. The flea's exploits became a never ending story, and I had the best behaved passengers one could ever want.

I guess that if I had been brought up in an era like today's I would not have had the imagination to make up a story like that. Storytelling is a lost art.

Walter

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Was gonna post this in the RANDOM THOUGHTS page but figured this might be a better place for it...

Via that thread...

Also - Simon Sinek says I'm managing my millennials wrong. He's probably right.

I spent an hour on the stairmaster yesterday and the machines are elevated at the back of the gym giving me a clear view of the gym.

As the workout winded down I got bored and just start doing some people watching. I noticed three girls, I'm guessing 20 or so, went from machine to machine. 5 minutes on treadmill, 5 minutes on elliptical, 5 minutes next to me on stairmaster, 5 minutes at the water fountain to chit-chat. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was at Chucky Cheese the way they hopped from machine to machine. Granted, none of them exercised with any intensity, broke any kind of sweat and it was like they were just on the machines to be on there.

It was like they used the gym as a buffet to be sampled.

I came to the conclusion that they were utilizing the machines exactly how they're used to consuming life... swipe, swipe, swipe; click, click, click; channel flip, channel flip, channel flip. So here it's machine, machine, machine.

Nothing gets any real attention or focus because there's always the fear that you're missing out on something better.

 

[Argue]

Reading this article on my smartphone.

 

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[amp0193]

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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[MidwestLandlord]

But even before smartphones nobody ever looked at each other in a waiting room. The other day, I picked up a Sports Illustrated in a waiting room and thought, this is what I used to do when waiting for the doctor for 30 minutes.

I think the difference is you can't become literally addicted to Sports Illustrated like you can the constant small dopamine hits from social media/tech. (Edit: wrong link haha, I'll find the right one. Edit #2: Fixed.)

Same with the picture up-thread of everyone on the subway reading a newspaper. Once the paper was read, it's done.

You don't pick up a magazine or newspaper every 2 minutes to see if something changed or someone texted you or whatever.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

 

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