So I’ve decided on a New Year’s resolution. It had been a long time coming, but I couldn’t quite figure out what I needed to work on. I maintain that it’s not so much a problem to be fixed as much as a noble experiment on my part: I’m resolving to spend less time on my phone. Now I realize that with QR codes, internet browsing, and all of my awesome apps, I can do just about everything with this minicomputer I keep in my pocket. It truly is amazing how far technology has come. Again, I can’t stress enough how much this ISN’T a problem – just a curiosity, a thought as to what life is like beyond the front of my screen. And it’s not even something I think I HAVE to do – after all, I have the world’s information at my finger tips, I can look for and find anything I’m curious about. Books? Magazines? Memory? And how on earth do I read a map? These are all things of the past. I need not burden my finite intellectual capacity with useless information like the past presidents, the Bill of Rights, contemporary news stories, or eve who starred in that movie…I can just look it up! I understand that at the dinner table – at home or away – people used to have to sit awkwardly, silently staring at one another until the unbearable tension was finally broken by the arrival of their food. I acknowledge and respect the long ago traditions of conversation and “small talk”. But it’s a different time now. When we go out to eat, all my friends will be checking Facebook, and the topic of talk will be different statuses, who posted what, and hilarious video clips. And where will my experiment leave me? High and dry. Ostracized. Outcast from the group. And yet I feel the desire to try it. I want to see if I can return my mental abilities to intra-cranial ability. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder why I’m subjecting myself to this? How will I entertain myself when I’m around uninteresting people? Without my game apps or my social networking activities, how will I delay boredom? How will I avoid face-to-face, interpersonal human interaction? What on earth will I do when we, collectively, cannot remember some trivial fact? What, should we sit and struggle, wracking our brains? And how do we make it through social situations? How will I be able to ignore my fellow human beings? What, am I expected to make eye-contact with people? Talk about weird…
On the other hand, perhaps it’s safer for me to stay sheltered within my phone. Perhaps it’s better I bury my nose in instant, to-the-second updates. Perhaps I’m not ready to rejoin society.
Then again, perhaps I don’t have a smart phone. Perhaps I’m still living in 2002, when people actually had to talk to, acknowledge, and even, (*gasp!*) rely on fellow people in the very same room. It’s been ten years. A single decade. Not even a generation. Technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. But when was the last time you wondered something, but rather than allow it to stir up a lively discussion, wherein people exercised the muscle called a “brain”, you or someone sitting next to you whips out the phone (or tablet!) and has the answer without a moment’s notice?
If you're looking for further reading, here are a couple rather interesting posts and articles:
- The Google Effect: New evidence of the Internet’s impact on brain and memory recalls Plato’s ancient warning
- Google Effect: Changes to our Brains
- Study Shows Internet Alters Memory
- Google turning us into forgetful morons
Post Script: I do also realize such technology has allowed us to do more things, given us the ability to reach further, close the intercontinental gap, and increase collaboration. Such technology has allowed more information, more knowledge, to more people. And yet, such technology necessitates increased social responsibility, greater levels of technology education, and significantly greater digital citizenship. In the words of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben…
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