As a business owner, interviewing Millennials and Gen-Z prospective employees is like stepping into a parallel universe. Becuase they’ve learned to interact on-screen, they often can’t carry a conversation, read body language or display something vital called empathy. They tendency is to think they’re stupid, which they’re not—just socially impaired. It’s either a real handicap or signs of an evolutionary adaptation. Time will tell.
4
I'm responding to your column right after listening to your extremely thoughtful Recode Decode podcast conversation with Shoshana Zuboff. (https://bit.ly/2tuEEzX)
As the two of you discussed so eloquently, virtually all these devices are linked (by umbilical cord, if you will) to a fundamentally exploitative system of surveillance capitalism that monitors our attention while shaping it for financial advantage at the expense of our free will.
I'm keeping that fact front and center as I consider whether this technology is both "convenient" and "good."
3
The whole piece is an epic rationalization regarding cellphone dependency. PS: I don't know what a YouTube "k-hole" is and don't want to know.
3
It is really quite simple - put your phone down for a week-end. If you can't then you are one of those pasty-faced thumb twiddlers.
"The inexperienced in wisdom and virtue, ever occupied with feasting and such, are carried downward, and there, as is fitting, they wander their whole life long, neither ever looking upward to the truth above them nor rising toward it, nor tasting pure and lasting pleasures.
Like cattle, always looking downward with their heads bent toward the ground and the banquet tables, they feed, fatten, and fornicate. In order to increase their possessions they kick and butt with horns and hoofs of steel and kill each other, insatiable as they are."
~Plato, Republic, 586a-b
3
You’re a journalist so isn’t being on your phone part of your job?
4
Based on your use as described, Ms. Swisher, you are not an addict.
here is one big problem with too much tech: not enough relatedness to other humans. no relatedness, no intimacy. no intimacy, no procreation. no procreation, no future. PUT THE DAMNED PHONE DOWN AND LOOK YOUR MOM, DAD, PARTNER, BOSS, FRIEND, LOVER IN THE EYES! and stop yelling!
5
I think that Kara Swisher knows she's a tech addict and has written a fine apologia for remaining so.
I never go on twitter: it is single-handedly destroying anyone's ability to think before speaking, and it's impossible to say anything of any depth whatsoever with that tool.
2
Thank you! I now know the term for something I’ve done for ages, whether through books (pre-tech), google, YouTube, etc: k-hole.
So, a question to all those tech addicts out there:
Boarding a Boeing Max 8 anytime soon?
Software is capable of killing you.
2
And in a millennia or two, alien anthropologists will determine that the species H. Sapiens demise was due to their absorption of incredibly high levels, and large amounts, of broadband RF. They will presume that the species absorbed fatal doses of the harmful RF during their many religious rites and rituals.
The anthropologists will posit that there was a single deity, one that the H. Sapiens referred to as “Internet” or sometimes “Web”, and that it was central to their religion. Furthermore special devices were required to contact it. Surprisingly, it was these same devices that produced the harmful RF. Note: this determination has yet to be proven.
There were a large number of particular religious rites that are still poorly understood. The anthropologists have determined that H. Sapiens thought these rites to be essential to life on earth. However, the anthropologists have not reconciled the importance attached, with the intellectual value of these rites.
Additional dangerous issues with the rituals have not yet been fully examined. However it’s certain that some, such as “texting while driving”, and “making a rad youtube video”, were instantaneously fatal.
We now know that the rites, many with strange names like “text”, “tweet”, “instagram”, “selfie”, as well as many others, were sometimes performed hundreds of times per day. In fact, these rites may have interfered with sustenance and procreation, which could be a possible explanation for the species extinction.
1
This entire column is a straw man. No one is complaining about reading the Times and the Post online, checking your calendar, talking to co-workers or renting scooters. It's the endless, mindless texting, tweeting and Facebooking that's destroying our culture and turning people into screen-staring zombies. I really don't know what Ms. Swisher's point is.
8
Watch out for the scooters. They’ll make you fat.
I am drowning in passwords. Somebody please save me.
3
Thank you Kara!
You know there's something seriously amiss when people have less...ahem..."relations" because of cell phone and social media usage. Article after article points to this.
I wish that you had actually spent more of the article talking about the good stuff--what is it? what makes it different from non-digital good stuff? how does it make you a better person? Your title implied that this was what the article would be about. I kept waiting for your setup to end and then you said your seven hours a day were productive and the article was over.
2
Kara, people are always looking for something...
Love, wealth, fame, power – or, more softly – validation, safety, solace, euphoria...
Learned long ago that there’s only one thing in this universe worth looking for...
There’s only one high that not only sustains you and rewards you for a lifetime, it compels you to go ever higher...
There’s only one thing that – when you find it, and win – everyone else wins right along with you...
That thing, of course – is the gradient...
If you imagine humans and humanity as the love-children of a heat-seeking missile and an AI bot...
Rather than the other way around – there you have it...
There it is – just ahead...
Tech addicts should be more than ashamed.
"Social" media on hand-held gadgets has been wrecking our culture, our news media, our small businesses and towns, our children's minds, our education system, our political system, causing traffic accidents, helping elect Trump, endangering national security, dumbing down public discourse, and all for the sake of making more money for multi-billionaire monopolists who can't even handle the tons of it they already have.
90% of what this stuff does can be done as easily and with vastly less societal damage, by websites, email, non-internet telephones, basic cameras, books, and just walking around and talking to actual people!
A NYT writer on technology who looks past the flood of reports in this very newspaper on all the above facets of this colossal disaster, going back years, is not paying attention.
4
How, almost, completely vacuous this whole piece is. we are heading to a point where someone else will always be in your head and it won't be you. It's a brave new world utterly lacking in humanity. The ghost is the machine. Follow it at humanity's peril.
2
Tech in adolescent life- especially video games and social media- are taking a hell of a toll on the young ones. A few can handle it and prosper tremendously, sometimes folks who haven't historically had much voice or power- but too many haven't nearly the amygdala to resist the addictive elements or appeal to lower instincts.
Hucksters out there to shame the King and Duke and mostly aimed at 12 yr olds, who can purchase with a touch.
2
Spoken like a true junkie.
I wonder if Swisher would still be so proud if her piece substituted "opium" for "phone".
I also wonder if she realizes how fortunate she is. Most junkies would gladly give up half their stash, if they could be well-paid as she is for writing reviews of their experience with the remaining half.
2
I just read the article about ASMR, my take is that humans are turning to a tech device to feel human. How long before we have a direct human to device interface? Do any of you tech addicts know how pitiful you look staring into your device while I am trying to talk to you, do you even care? Use the technology, don’t let it use you.
1
I recall a Star Trek episode where everyone was walking around, wired, playing a game they were all addicted to while the Enterprise was crumbling around them. So very, very sad that people just don't seem to care that it is happening in real life.
1
Thanks for this. The attacks on the Tech industry by people who don't use these technologies have become relentless and unbalanced. I balance my use by not having an iphone, but I use my desktop a lot during the day. I use Google Scholar to get to the primary scientific literature and I use FB to interact with friends and relatives that I would otherwise not have access to. The NYTimes and WashPo are my primary source for news also. Using Scholar is definitely a plus for getting to the global literature, much more convenient and time-saving than walking or biking to the Stanford Lane medical library for an afternoon to keep up in the 80s and 90s; and Scholar even tells me when I've been cited. Sure beats the old method of searching for relevant literature.
I always turn up the volume on CNBC when Kara comes on. She is very centered and that makes her cynical about the bullies in tech (particularly Facebook that wants us to believe they will behave from now on, "trust us, we really mean it this time") who now want the government to do their job. Apple is making a pretty strong point that they aren't like that.
Anyway, I appreciate her candor and knowledge of silicon valley.
First, if you are keeping a list of favorite media words, most of which are nonsensical contractions, you are an addict. Second, I have been writing comments in the last 2-3 years that technology has become a worse kind of addiction than other substances, I have been flamed. Problem acknowledged is problem half solved. There are very serious and deeply settled negative effects of tech addiction. The sooner we recognize it the better off we will all be, I mean the human kind. All this should happen before we see special lanes for phone addicts who cannot lift their heads up to see what's around them and the traffic lights come down to the pavement so they can be forced upon the hypnotized walkers.
Technology is defined as a way of doing something. When we force things to do with a new device, software, or platform, we turn the concept upside down. We create problems to be solved with what is offered to us and that's how addiction starts.
2
I hope Ms. Swisher has at least one other addiction she can overindulge in that doesn't require cell towers. Mother Nature perhaps?
Fact: If North Korea (or any country) detonates one nuclear warhead in low space (60 miles) Over the US.. all the tech everyone is addicted to and relies on will go dead immediately and be unrecoverable. This includes our power transmission systems as well.
Instant dark age.. and for a pirate nation on the verge of such capability... it could happen. The same could happen from a massive solar flare striking out atmosphere if the Sun were to decide to do a nutty.
My point here is ---> to not become so dependent on technology that you are completely lost if it all goes away in an instant due to catastrophy.
2
"I’m a Tech Addict and I’m Not Ashamed"
... reminds me a lot of:
"I'm a Lumberjack,
and I'm OK..."
1
One of my college history professors once said (when talking about a deep and complex historical moment and its ramifications), "If it isn't in here," (tapping his head), "where is it?"
This was more than 20 years ago, before the Internet took over our lives. The assumption that you can always look something up, so why bother to remember it, too easily leaves us with empty heads. Human creativity comes from our brains making unpredictable connections between pieces of information, but if that information hasn't been stored to begin with, there's no material to connect.
3
As I read this piece, I thought to myself: "okay, can you get to the meat of your argument, this is waaaaay too long." Then the irony hit me.
46
@EV
Thank you for diagnosing my similar ailment.
1
Oh, you TOO acknowledge the "dangers" and the "addictive nature" of screens.
And you too defend your seven hours a day of screen time as well-chosen, rational and wise. A study in rationalization.
Additionally, you too seem to believe that "The most profound experiment in human communications in all of our history is taking place right now." In all of YOUR history, perhaps. But the wider history includes the development of the printing press and the introduction of widespread literacy. In the competition for "most profound experiment," those are pretty profound.
It's not that I, myself, do not use screens; nor do I deny the benefits and dangers of that use. I just don't deceive myself about them. Justifying my use of screens with rationalizations and excuses does not seem to be a worthwhile or necessary exercise. I'm old enough that my screen time was once "zero." I do not track it now. If it gets excessive, I feel it. If it is too little, I feel it.
3
I have never owned a smartphone. Nor do I want one. I can stay in immediate touch with whomever I need by voice or text on my $20 flip-phone. I have access to the internet through many other sources. The only down-side I can see is the social one: smartphone owners tend to treat me as if I'm slightly unhinged when they learn this disturbing fact about me.
2
The time has come to legislate smart phone use out of the hands of children and young adolescents. The smart phone should be classified as an "adults only" device. A simple, highly restricted "kids" phone could be on the market next week if Apple was required to do so by law. Please take the time and ask any middle school or high school teacher, counsellor, or administrator if they see any benefits that outweigh the negative impacts on interest, attention span, and use of time.
36
@rab
To extreme a stand in my view.
My child has a cell phone, as I want her to be able to call me, or me call her in an emergency, and I also want to be able to find her phone electronically, and hence her as well.
That said.. we have parental restrictions enabled on her phone such that during school hours, she can only call my my spouses phone numbers. She hates it, but she understands that her attention needs to be on class work while in class.
My point is.. you don't have to remove the hardware, only have parental controls on the software on the device.
8
@rab
At last. A voice of common sense. Thanks
1
@rab
A call for our wise and impartial legislators to create a law restricting what adults may allow their children to do, and what technology they are allowed to touch; and forcing companies to produce a "highly restricted 'kids' (sic) phone," for which there is currently insufficient demand.
A law that is enforced with force, with uniformed forces armed with the force of firearms. A law that would punish those who disagree with your analysis, with fines and imprisonment. A law that would apply until one second after midnight on the day of the "protected" child's birthday (age 10? 12? 18? 21? 25? you don't specify), after which, presumably, the child will be tech savvy, because of the barrier to tech savviness that has been in place.
And speaking of teachers and administrators, what is up with their irrational behavior? Basically, all school children have a smart phone, the most powerful communicating device that mankind has ever produced. So do all teachers, counsellors and administrators. But do they use them to communicate with their students? No. They avoid that assiduously. No friending students on facebook; no group texts, neither for classroom assignments nor academic calendars nor any reason whatsoever. They fearfully guard their own phone numbers and e-mail addresses from students, wasting a tremendous opportunity for communication that would help lighten their load and improve the academic experience of their students. All because they fear the technology.
Thanks Kara, for a thoughtful column.
The basic question "what is the good life?" was not really answered. It would seem to me that the response would balance the improved convenience of our smart gadgets with the personal values and interactions we have w/family and friends.
Now, how to do that?
"I don’t think throwing our phones out.. we have to find a way to balance what is good with what is convenient.."
Yes! but how?
When we immerse ourselves in technology, it makes us take things for granted. We must find occasions to leave the world of our inbox and explore the larger world around us. This is a behaviour that must be learned and reinforced.
Are you comfortable with where technology is heading? Are you concerned about the future of human-to-human connection and interaction?
Face-to-face conversation is a lost art. More people work and communicate virtually, the human-to-human connection becoming increasingly tenuous. Your post reminded me of two books by Sherry Turkle - "Alone Together" and "Reclaiming Conversation."
A Pew Foundation study says that 89 % of adults took out a phone during their social interaction, and 82 % say that doing so diminished the conversation. We are diminishing the conversations we have with our children, we are playing with fire. We put our young children in strollers and instead of chatting with them as we walk; we’re on our phones, heads down, silent, texting. Parents text during breakfast and dinner, they text in the park and tell their kids that they have to cut family vacations short because the Wi-Fi is not strong enough in their vacation spots!!
Sadhguru says "If you do not mess with the world too much, people will be happy with you now. If you mess with it too much, then people will be happy when you are dead".
3
Ms. Swisher - Perhaps you might consider reading more widely than the Washington Post and New York Times - there's a whole wide world out there. This apologia for technology seems to gloss over its real world downside. I hear about this from my young teacher friends, who see the students they teach having foreshortened interest in what used to fascinate children....things like the frog they saw walking to school, their questions about puddles, their wondering about why the sky is blue or why we have clouds. We risk the future by not questioning the real impact of the technology that has been unleashed on the world.
5
How interesting, lot of commenters criticising the tech use/usage and most likely adding these very comments using a smart device. Oh the delicious irony!
1
Unsurprising that the editor of a tech digital publication that fetishizes technology doesn’t see a problem with 7 hours of screen time per day...
1
Although I receive only two or three legitimate phone calls per month, I’m tethered to my iPhone as I go about my day listening to the NYT or a podcast...I love how this technology has really taken the edge off life’s mundane moments like waiting in the check-out line, emptying the dishwasher or changing the oil in my car...
Sometimes I will unplug one earbud to facilitate pleasantries...
I agree with the general view from Kara
But two things need to be monitored for a healthy tech life
1- emotions being swung from people you hardly know or issues that are dumb in the grander scope.
That’s where twitter and facebook are problematic
I had to get off Twitter after I spent too much time (anything over zero) interacting over issues in a forum that will never change opinions
The swing of emotions gone and that time is replaced with better stuff in my life
2 - swiping out of boredom
I witness myself and others on their iPads swiping from app to app (game to game or social site to site) on the airplane
It’s actually incessant
That time was usually spent reading 1 book or a magazine
This is like “channel surfing” of old - but now you can do this anywhere
So if you don’t know what you need the phone for at the moment - you don’t probably need to be on it - just look around and pull out a book or journal
"Tech Addict" is 'click bate' and who really should care about stuff like this article compared to the dangers associated with the addiction to the e-world?
How about a story on the increasing dangers of addiction to the e-world by members of current and future generations? Many are becoming enured to their increasingly lacking social skills resulting in their being left behind.
2
I'm certainly no luddite--wrote my first line of code in the summer of 1969. But that phone is a tool and not a way of life. Do what you will, but the choice is yours.
Technology, specifically computers/internet/video games/social media, good or bad for society?
It seems to me in widest view most human beings have disliked living in a state of nature, have always been at odds with the natural world, and no matter the curiosity of human beings it appears politics/economics, power/society, has removed humans from a state of nature in about as profound sense as we place animals in a zoo; we place animals and ourselves in a situation we declare is better, more safe than the natural world but it amounts to determining how much we can make most any animal happy with the least amount of effort.
Relatively few humans in any age like books, want to know, dream of having a complete blueprint of society and nature and seek to transcend themselves, and power certainly has always been at odds with such humans, which leaves most people and power calculating and manipulating each other to determine where and how and when a person can be made content with his or her lot, a determination of human limits not so much so we can break them but to contain humanity, have the perfectly run zoo which is an improvement on nature.
It's shocking to have heard of all the promise of computers, internet, etc. only to find that with each passing day you're becoming attached to something which is perhaps even more effective than walls, physical barriers to keep you in place. Imagine a caged gorilla so engrossed with a computer game it never notices its cage is gone.
3
I think I’m smarter thanks to my iPhone, iPad, and my iMac. I seem to be able to look up just about anything I’m curious about and keep at it until I understand what I’ve found - with one exception. I can’t seem to understand any of the directions for untangling operating problems i run into for these devices. At least Apple has human beings answering their phones when I have a problem.
I was adamantly against getting a Roomba for all the virtuous reasons - I needed the exercise of vacuuming and it was a frivolous waste of money. My family finally wore me down and got one. At first I was suspicious that it would do as good a job as I could do, but as my family used it, I warmed up to it and started using it my self.
Now I adore it! I can start it going in a room, while dusting and picking up. It frees me up to do other things and the house has never been cleaner. Once a skeptic, now a convert; I find myself wondering whether you could program a robot to wash dishes!
1
Personally, I think techie stuff is terrific. It has made my life easier, more informed, and more enjoyable. As I age, I am so grateful for the conveniences it has afforded and I look forward to continuing ‘magic’ from developers and upstarts.
1
Well said. We need to train ourselves on knowing the abuses vs. the useful uses of these devices. Along with you, all I use mine for is staying in touch with co-workers as needed, contacting family, taking photos, reading books and newspapers, and an occasional crossword puzzle. And of course listening to music! In the past one needed multiple sources and devices for these things, so it always liked like we were diversifying what we did each and every day..now it's all in one place, and looks like one is addicted to the device. But in reality, the daily habits and routines haven't changed, just the source has. And it's been great having my news, books and music all in one place. Teach children that and we might have more readers and music lovers in the end.
1
Kara Swisher is also the same columnist who not only predicted but lauded the disappearance of personal automobiles.
Does she not understand how much of her independence and freedom she gives up to the manipulations of engineers and bureaucrats?
Does she not understand how much THEY rather than SHE shape her own life?
Does she not also understand how vulnerable "technology" makes her? One good solar storm (Remember the Carrington Event?) or an electro-magnetic pulse when Kim Jong Un throws a high-altitude nuclear tantrum, and she will starve in the dark, and, unfortunately because of the electronic control of everything, so may the rest of us. Then a garden in the back yard (if one does not live in the urban anthill) and an automobile with mechanical ignition and a carburetor may come in handy.
I use smartphones to my considerable convenience and benefit, but I shy far, far away from the dense, urban, completely dependent world in which she appears to live.
Technology is the tail wagging the dog, and by design, is the opiate of the masses. Great books were written by hand. I once wrote theses on a manual Remington Standard typewriter. The threat of typing yet another draft really concentrated my mind, and I wrote better than with a word processor. Spelling, grammar, and usage were in my head, rather than my smartphone.
Of course, I would not be making this comment without technology, but once there were letters to the editor, which were far more reflective than these.
7
I still use a flip phone and basically don't text. I have a laptop. I teach at a university, and while my students are slightly gobsmacked that I won't text, they adjust.
It is possible to choose how you use tech as an adult. I am aware that part of that is my age--I did not grow up with tech, and I am very grateful for that.
4
I think there is a distinction to be made between "Tech Addict" and "Social Media Addict", there is nothing tech about social media. I have spent a huge amount of my time in front of computer screens ever since I got to use my first one in 1994, it has enabled me a to get a great a job, in my free time I contribute to free software projects and read a lot on screen. But all of that is done with me being in control, with Facebook/Twitter it is the alerts that drive you.
It is so common that you are having a conversation with a person and they get a notification and glance at their screen, I find that rude but that's just the smallest problem. If you have normal social interactions like in a classroom you will meet people with different viewpoints but with online communities you are restricted to your own echo chamber which leads to more polarization. For some young people their view of themselves is dependent on the number of "likes" and "friends" on social media which is a very dangerous thing. I have seen my younger cousins refreshing their phones with anxiety to see how many likes they got which cannot be healthy.
Undoubtedly removing tech is not the answer but self control is important. Set aside time for engaging in social media, I would suggest not putting social media apps on your phone but on a computer so it's not always with you.
5
Careful renting scooters Kara. Many people do it without a helmet but that puts them at risk of TBI (traumatic brain injury). An ICU nurse in a major hospital in a major city told me last fall (no pun intended) that a lot of patients in the ICU days are TBI patients who fell on a scooter and weren't wearing a helmet. Spread the word.
4
The vast majority of people reading this article lead healthful lives of comfort, abundance, safety and yes, convenience, that would have been unimaginable to people living in the smelly, unhealthy, uncomfortable streets of New York ca 1900 when the typical lifespan was a blessedly short 50 years or so. Technology is what has brought us to this point and the fourth industrial revolution, relying upon artificial intelligence and machine learning powered by 5G is predicted to increase overall productivity by 30-40% within ten years.There will be disruption and people will complain but the quality of life will improve. I believe that is cause for optimism.
2
@JohnFred: Optimism in the benefits of technology (any/all technology) coupled with deterioration of the quality of life for the many, is an American speciality
3
@JohnFred Technology is part of the story of longer human life; another part is public health investment.
What's your assessment of the impact on our political system and society when 4,000,000 million people who drive for a living are put out of work -- eliminating one of the last jobs where you can earn decent money with just a high school diploma?
We're far enough into the information/AI/ML revolution that we can see it's not like last time: you can't move from manufacturing buggy whips to repairing automobiles and live happily ever after. The new jobs come in smaller quantities and are quickly themselves disrupted. (Consider what happens to IT and datacenter administrators in a cloud transition. Or what'll happen to Uber and Lyft drivers.)
This might not be the perfect moment to supercharge resentment about being left behind. Blithe statements that "there will be disruption" ignore what it means to actual humans and their communities. Who gets to solve that problem? Who gets to make sure nearly all of the benefits don't accrue to just a few?
1
I love watching Midsomer Murders. I love that I can stream it online through a device I can attach to any HDMI TV in any hotel I stay in when I travel.
BUT something I don't like is whatever tech software is being used to supply the subtitles. Detective Barnaby works in the fictional town of Causton. The subtitling software insists the show is set in Corston.There are numerous mistakes like that. In Miss Marple, she offers her friend some damson gin, that is, gin made from damson plums. In the subtitles she offers her friend some "down some gin" which makes her sound like an illiterate barfly instead of a quaint little old lady in an English village where the old ladies know how to distill their own booze from fruit.
These are just a couple of examples.
It takes a human to understand things like that. There is no software that will never do it.
1
Plowshares or swords.
I am not a fan of the Bible but just to show the problem of choosing how to use technology has always been with us.
1
Many people I work with and associate with can say they grew up around computers. I am of the number that can say computers grew up around me. My first computer was an Apple II clone. My second was a Kaypro with a blazing 2 MegaHertz clock speed. My first modem a 13.3 baud dial up accessed by a 5 inch floppy from A.O.L. I still use a Dell laptop that weighs at least five pounds because it still runs Windows 7, the last actually user friendly OS. I know just how rudimentary a device most people actually need, but they get what they want.
1
@Richard Mclaughlin
I grew up at the same time but didn't start using personal computers until much later.
On the other hand, my current laptop is 2.3 lbs with solid state drive - noticeably nicer.
Also, Windows 10.
On the other hand, my phone is an old text phone :-)
There is something I rarely hear discussed, and that’s tech’s effect on young people. I retired from teaching in large part because of cell phones. Students are so hopelessly addicted to their phones that teaching them became impossible. I have had kids flip out on me when I’ve tried to take away their phone. If I told them to put away their phone, they would pull them out 30 seconds later. They won’t read or do any assignments because they are entranced by their phone. Not only had I never failed so many students, but many of them didn’t seem to care. We have a serious problem on our hands.
21
Bravo.
Folks on Wall Street laughed when I bought a fancy HP calculator and again when I bought a desktop, with Lotus 1-2-3, pre-installed.
I'm not ashamed.
I'm a Tech Addict big time. I will never see 80 again and i am confined to a wheel chair, but i travel the world, the bottom of the ocean, outer space, read books on my Kindle, try to understand a sliver of the Universe, build a musical library, read recipes, etc., etc. I am just so thankful i can do this. Technology has enriched my world beyond my wildest dreams.
Who would have thought the 3 year old child being shown the brand new big radio with a green eye in the middle would see and do such things.
10
Still we have to acknowledge that people aren't "imagining" the negatives. I deleted my facebook account because I didn't feel in control of how I used it, and I didn't like how I felt when I used it. I know from experience that when I put away my phone and spend time with my kids I have a more rewarding, humane life. When I keep it on me, I end up trying to juggle my phone and my kids at the same time, I have a more stressful, rushed, cramped life, that unfortunately involves more crying and shouting. Is that really making anything better, or easier?
We have to ask what we mean by "convenient" too -- if I'm always at work because I'm always connected, that might be convenient for someone, but not for me.
Financial incentives have encouraged tech companies to tempt us online as much as possible and keep us there as long as possible, and so it is entirely up to us to create the boundaries we need to live happy, fulfilling lives, with sufficient sleep, attention spans long enough to build meaningful relationships and accomplish meaningful work, and even just the ability to sit with our own thoughts, free of an addictive-compulsive desire to "check" some digital something.
It should not be so rare to just relax and be human, listen to the birds and feel the breeze, to simply live and experience and BE.
10
We definitely love our smartphones!
Our family's favorite thing about having a smartphone, is that during discussions, when a question arises that no one knows the answer to, we just look it up on the go. We are all getting smarter! 24/7 learning!
Google Map helps us easily get to many of our children's events at other parents homes, or a band concert at a different School. Or a medical appointment with my elderly parents at a different Clinic than usual. Or even how to navigate a rental car out of the Miami Airport and towards the beach. We use it to plan family vacations and errand routes that minimize driving.
I have a picture of my mother's medications on my phone, ready to show any ER physician who may need it. I have a picture of my kids school schedules, so I know when we can chat or when they are tied up. I can live stream a band concert to my husband who is away on a business trip and cannot attend. I send text with photos to my far-flung siblings to keep connected. My conclusion is that phones, used wisely, are just fantastic.
8
How does the headline of this piece follow from its contents?
Kara presents several arguments and anecdotes in favor of the idea that technology is omnipresent, disruptive, and addictive, then pivots to "but it's good" without any substantive rebuttal to the original concerns.
24
There's a place for most everything of course but we have to learn discernment & balance too.
I've been around many decades -- 50 years as a scientist.
I am retired but also an endless student.
I love that I can research over the web any topic at almost any depth - pretty much whenever I want.
And audit any of thousands of online courses in most any field for free. Often can't get enough of any of this, yet walking 2-3 miles a day is also a must.
But I also have learned like many others that nothing of significance happens in this world without hard work. And you only become wise through self effort.
Many in the younger generation in my view have yet to learn what we've all had to learn, it generally takes hard work to learn what you need to know to be productive and live a meaningful life -- (I had too many students like this as an adjunct the last few years that I taught - little interest in learning to think critically or learn much of anything in depth, though there were some wonderful exceptions of course).
Anyone can expand the boundaries of human knowledge, but true in depth knowledge & effort are usually required.
And real relationships are the biggest mystery of all, and you'll never learn what makes them healthy, real, caring & equitable by texts, instagram or emails.
Everyone clearly has to figure it out for themselves. And learning to recognize what is of true value in life & prioritize it is also crucial. And some awareness of what we don't know helps.
9
The fault lies with people, not with the tools they use nor with the drugs they take. As I write this, I am about as geographically isolated as a person can be and still be in the state of NY. That said, today I read two newspapers, listened to three different radio stations from three different countries, worked on my income tax returns, paid my credit card bill and finished the novel I was reading. Later, I’ll watch the news, check the baseball scores and maybe watch a movie. Finally, I’ll select a new book to read, either from the public library or my personal collection. I do it all from the comfort of my home and have more time for all the usual activities: shopping, running errands, chatting with neighbors, household chores, etc. If I have a tech addiction, I embrace it.
6
I’ve followed Kara Swisher on Twitter, and I’d have to say that there’s nothing of convenience about it - she overshares and also retweets without much apparent thought, like tossing a few scaly fish to obedient seals.
It’s uninteresting to me, and I have nothing to gain, so I unfollowed without blinking. But the addicted, and those that want something from her - a like, a mention, some kind of validation- will hang in there. And she will continue to make money from “influence.” Of COURSE tech and online presence has redeeming value, for those who profit from it and can ”explain” to others that it’s valuable.
19
For adults, finding a balance with the use of devices is easier than it is for children, who are exposed to devices earlier in life than most adults were. There are even plans afoot to introduce some children to the joys of coding as early as possible. Some research attests to the educational benefits of ever-younger pupils using iPads or laptops in school and at home, but we are left to wonder how that exposure affects overall adjustment. I think this trend among youngsters is more concerning than the struggle of adults to limit their screen time.
2
A healthy amount of procrastination has been shown to boost creative thinking. Too many people nowadays are investing this time in social media instead and destroying in this manner opportunities to be creative. On top of that companies that produce smart phones veered from producing tools that could assist us in those creative processes into producing apps designed to hook individuals into addictive behavior. It is a shame. The only clear solutions is for people to make an effort to limit the use of their devices to be assistants of their inventiveness (meaning, among other things, limiting the apps installed to the absolute minimum that could accomplish that goal, and removing from the phone the rest). Throwing away Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like won’t hurt at all.
4
With phones at our side almost 24/7, and companies using tech to attempt to insert themselves into every activity in our daily lives, there is no shortage of real-world issues to examine here. But that second bit -- companies butting into our daily lives -- is worth lingering on.
Other comments here are rightly complaining about the effect smart devices have on our ability to focus on tasks and be deliberate with our time. They criticize children and adults for their lack of self-control, or modern technology for being so inherently distracting.
Devices are not fated to be distracting, though. Nobody accused a word processor of being "impossible to put down," or a graphing calculator of distracting kids from quality time with family (until young Susie learns how to install games on it).
When Facebook pesters you to check who liked your photo, when a social game like Draw Something helpfully reminds you that "*good* players maintain streaks [of participating daily] with friends," it's not the nature of the device that's at fault. It's the choices made by these companies about whether to respect your time or to treat you as a resource to be maximized.
Whether you resist the siren call or not, make no mistake who's doing the singing, and why.
4
@Daniel Isn't that the trouble with addiction, like opioid or meth addiction, or even legally prescribed painkillers, though? I might have the self discipline to consume what I need, as diagnosed, and put it down... but others in society are incapable, and then society pays the price. Maybe we should be asking overall, before a product release, if the benefits of this new "thing" are going to cover the social costs we will all be asked to pay for it. In the case of Big Pharma and the lawsuits we're seeing now though, the companies rushed to put out a product that knowingly hooked a lot of vulnerable people, with the costs paid externally by others: family members, taxpayers, and those not addicted.
3
I'm a historian/clergywoman/author and the ability to carry around the books I need for the day and/or current project on a device instead of piling several pounds of hardback and paperback books into a tote or backpack has made my back and shoulders very happy. The ability to have information there at my fingertips via my tablet or smartphone is a joy. It took no time at all for me to get used to and be proficient with the technology; it took a bit longer to discipline myself to turn it off. I've found a happy medium - so far.
4
Recently ditched my phone. Have come to the realization that it really does not improve any aspect of my life. People can still get a hold of me 2-3 different ways and I can contact them 2-3 different ways. If I am at home, there is a phone, at work, a phone, at home, a computer, at work, a computer.
I think it is very good business for the phone companies, for Apple, HP, Samsung. But other than costing me monthly, is there a real benefit? Just don't see that cost/benefit adding up to make sense.
Turned it off about a week ago. It honestly does feel good without it, and, am saving money.
Have had the phone for over 13 years, that "important moment" has never come. Should we really carry the phone around for that one moment? Guess it's to tell you earlier that..."it happened".
7
I am far more aware of a variety of topics because I have access to the New York Times due to tech. Tech makes teaching easier. There is no question that tech makes life easier. But, the electricity we are using is destroying the planet and the metals that are integrated into our technology are unearthed by way of abused labor.
1
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@Anthony,
Consider solar power
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@Anthony
Tech does not make life easier.
Tech makes life lazier.
When tech is a choice rather than compulsion, it’s a good thing. It is about balance, and recognizing when you are being led down a rabbit hole.
2
All the things you do on line we have always done off, if without the “audience” that, for the most part, is not in fact paying any attention to anyone but themselves.
There are good things one might say about the new technologies, but they definitely do not involve genuine “connection” or intimacy. We should be balancing those good things and their virtues against the bad things and their vices; if we did that, I respectfully suggest that we could hardly fail to conclude that we’re better off without them and act accordingly (with all the treatment and intimate support that addiction recovery requires—which would be the greatest gift of all).
3
Funny how the notion of involvement with technology has shifted from people who are obsessed by the nuts and bolts of various varieties of technology (e.g., me and electronics) to people who are in love with the broad potential for communication with other people via some kinds of technology (e.g., Ms. Swisher and me too with social media). That level of communication with a significant fraction of the 7 billion specimens of humankind can be frightening, but in spite of the nutty aspects I see it as a good thing and likely to make the world a better place in the long run.
1
Tech, and this includes the Internet, is a just reward to our creativity and ingenuity, making our lives more effectice, even more efficient...when used in moderation. Addiction is a condition we kept building due to it's rewards of connectivity...at the cost of personal and social interaction. There is nothing wrong with technology's prowess; it is human inappropriateness what is at fault here. And we know it. And yet, how sweet it is, a sort of divorce from the world's concerns, idleness without guilt.
It’s not a tech problem, Kara. It’s a need for an audience problem.
I had a quintuple bypass operation 3 years ago. When I was being prepped at 5:30 AM by a kindly nurse who carefully shaved off ¾ of my body hair, it never occurred to me to ask for a cell phone. Twelve hours later as I came to ion the Intensive Care Unit, same thing. But I did manage to ask the ICU nurse to remove the tube from my throat and give me something to drink. For the next several days those ICU nurses and aides were the center of my universe. I’ve never loved or worshipped anyone more than them.
I don’t think you’re addicted to tech Kara. I think you’re addicted to having an audience. Unfortunately, you're not alone. It’s become an epidemic.
29
@inframan Yes, it's mostly about craving audience, and appearing cool to that audience. Reading a good book is not cool because it doesn't involve any audience. That should allow for a bit of shame in Kara's life, audience or not.
13
As part-time volunteer crew, I spend a week every summer voyaging off-shore on a tall-ship. About 30 miles out the cell-phones stop working. That is in many ways my favorite part. 4 days of pure sailing, watch-and-watch, and about 25 cell users with their phones in their bunks. We actually talk with each other while making eye contact. Just imagine!
Back in port we all revert quickly. But what was once, when I sailed as a younger man, just normal, is now sort of 'we-together' instead of I-phone.
4
A mom friend who has a parenting blog posted the other day how her 5 year old son said something hurtful to her, so as punishment she took away his iPad. What? A 5 year old has an iPad? Why? How? Absolutely unnecessary and even harmful for a child that young. And the irony is that her blog is all about "raising healthy kids". Yeah, right.
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@Vmur
An iPad in the hands of a 5 year old is not harmful in and of itself. In fact there are sufficient studies now that demonstrate supervised and appropriate content use on an iPad can be quite beneficial to a small child's cognitive development. Key words here are "supervised" and "appropriate content" and both aspects are easily supported for parents in the newer versions of the iOS.
An iPad UNSUPERVISED in the hands of a 5 year old is a disaster waiting to happen.
Like all things with children, parental supervision is the prime directive in all things.
7
@Chuck
A 5-year old should be in the back yard or the field on the next block discovering nature and the business of the real world.
An iPad? Seriously? Is that the future?
19
@Kenneth Brady My children were born just as the Internet was taking off. At first I rejoiced in the tech that helped them learn, say, sequencing. But then I realized that they were beginning to expect a reward for every little thing - because of that Vegas-style music that erupted when all the pieces slotted into space. At this point, life on the net appears to be a series of dopamine hits.
27
I view the cell phone phenomenon as a contagious disease of inattention and rudeness. A blight upon the cultural landscape.
Being constantly "connected" destroys imagination, robs us of peace and quiet. Yuch
15
@paul S
It does create a social dissonance in the population for sure.
Seeing a family of 5 eating at a restaurant and all of them are so embedded in their phones such that they NEVER actually interact as a family while eating is disturbing to watch.
The policy in our home is when you enter your home, you leave your cell phone in a conveniently located basket right by our front door. If that is something you are unable or unwilling to do.. you won't be invited to our home anymore. And for family membes... no cell phones or other electronic devices are permitted at the dining table.. EVER.
6
@paul S, there is no difference between using a phone to comment on a NYTimes article and using a laptop or a desktop. You are reading and responding to this on a screen. Why make so many assumptions abut how people are using their devices?
@Smithy
I am a tour guide. I poor a lot of energy into my work. I can assure you that no one on my tour has ever whipped out a computer a half hour into the tour and begun reading and liking comments on the New York Times. But with phones, people are in the middle of a debate when they arrive, the debate had begun while they were on the train, and maybe when there is a spare minute they check in again...
The constantly being half here, half there, is super distracting to the rest of us.
10
Just coming off a 6-week hiatus with no laptop and very limited cellphone (because it's ancient and I do not use apps of any sort).
It was a good thing. Maybe even a very good thing.
It broke 'the spell,' -- the thrall, the pull that the laptop had -- has? -- over me. (Which clearly accelerated during the 2016 presidential campaign and never let up since.)
Obviously, I'm reading this article, and writing a comment ... something I couldn't easily or readily do for over a month. (And Amazon is surely happy to see me return ... they probably thought I died. Or at least wondered.)
But ... without a device, I learned a lot about what I'd been missing in the real world, my world -- and things I need to get back in touch with and in charge of in my own sphere, far, far away from the cyber.
Like all good reboots, losing easy tech access cleared my mind in some key respects,
The 'call' of the devices -- and all the weight they carry and the news they deliver -- went from bright and multi-colored and busy, busy, busy!, demanding my constant mental and physical energies to a definite grayscale and more or less -- meh.
And I am determined not to let it retake too much of me, my life and my time going forward.
1
What a strange piece. I know we all want to be counter-cultural but being pro-phone and tech is hardly counter-cultural. Just because she found one dude who ditched his phone doesn't make it radical to use hers.
5
My mother in law is an drug addiction counselor and can’t stand it when the word addiction is used to describe every activity in which we overindulge. Do you go through extremely painful physical withdrawal symptoms when away from your phone, so painful you wish you could die? Of course not. Because that would constitute a real addiction. Find another word, already.
@Vmur
I have actually seen people have anxiety attacks when they are denied their phone.
So, with all due respect to your mother in law... not all addiction is chemical. In fact.. much of it begins in the individual mind.
10
@Vmur
Just because there are no physically painful withdrawal symptoms doesn't mean there's no addiction. What would you call hoarding, for instance? I'm sure you've seen homes where hoarders live--they simply cannot give up any of their stuff. They suffer a mental addiction--if their homes were just bulldozed and carted away maybe they'd suffer a little PTSD, but they'd most likely get over it without taking any medication.
So, your mother in law should just lighten up. There are serious addictions besides drug addictions.
I'm a black and white film noir addict and I'm not ashamed.
Different strokes for different folks, Kara.
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@Stan Carlisle My late partner was decades older than me and knew just about every actor in every film from the thirties and forties on. When he was a kid, the movies were it, the go-to entertainment for everyone. The amount of time people spent in movie theatres back then would likely shock a lot of people today! It may well have been pretty close to the amount of time spent on phones and social media today. But he loved movies and got me to see a lot of really beautiful films that I otherwise might have missed.
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@Stan Carlisle,
No, neither of you are addicts
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Like the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, the tech industry creates products that do good things, but are also highly addictive and have terrible consequences. But one difference is that tech companies are working to make their products as addictive as possible, so as to maximize our attention and monetize it (as well as our personal data).
Watch any video of Tristan Harris, a former "design ethicist" at Google, and now director for The Center for Humane Technology. He explains how teams of researchers and psychologists are hacking all of us. Through the use of predictive analytics, in some ways, our apps and devices know us better than we know ourselves. Many people say all technology is "neutral." A hammer can build a house or kill someone. But a hammer doesn't collect data on you and modify itself so you become addicted to hammering and can't stop even if you want to. These kinds of tools have never been used before in humankind.
Ms. Swisher gets it wrong: it's not just a "profound experiment in human communication." It's a profound and dystopian experiment in human psychology. We willingly give up parts of our souls for the convenience technology offers us, with many of us not even bothering to consider the deeper personal and societal ramifications. Unless we come to terms with that, we wind us serving the tools that were supposed to liberate us.
31
@jrinsc
In my view, the technology itself is not the core issue. Yes, companies (mostly the app makers) do in fact try to make features so friendly and compelling as to drive customers to buy and use.
The core issue is peoples choice of priorities and lack of impulse control though. Responsible adults should... act responsibly.
At my local fitness club, where I am a member, I continue to be amazed at how many members are unable to leave their cell phones alone for even 5 minutes while exercising. Sometimes, they get so engrossed with their phones, they sit on exercise equipment while not actually using it.. and keeping other members waiting for access to the equipment. So.. yeah.. definitely rudeness and lack of awareness.
4
Just a general observation - one of the frustrating things about the "tech addict" discourse that Kara is addressing, is how it is exclusively focused on things that have to do with computers. One million people die in car accidents around the world every year, and EU commissioners are making presumptuous "we" statements denigrating, of all things, "convenience," in relation to apps and online services that have transformed our lives? Cars are a technology too, and I think it would be fair to say that "we" are addicted to them for the sake of "convenience".
And that's just one example. Why doesn't the "tech addict" discourse include guns? Or security systems? Or laundry machines or dishwashers or elevators or omnipresent electricity and running water, for that matter?
I think the answer is generational. You don't have to be that old to still relate to computers as kind of interloping, uncanny things, associated with young people. That's what underlies the "convenience" charge: it's just old-timey "kids these days are soft" nonsense, piggybacking on the instinct that computer technology, like confident young people, represents a kind of impudence in the face of presumed authority.
1
@lenepp
Cars actually have pretty well thought out and considered safeguards in their electronic systems. For example.. on most modern cars with an Entertainment and Information system also has a range of features locked when the vehicle is moving... to minimize driver distractions.
I do wish that cell phones were severely limited when in vehicles and some car manufacturers as well as Cell services are actually doing this more and more over time.
3
Once Apple showed Blackberry how to make a "real" smart phone, history was made. It blew Blackberry management away that a computer could be put in a phone. Now, so long as one has a smart phone, assuming it's adequately charged, you are never lost or without ability to address any situation that might arise. Tech is indeed good, but over-reliance on it could be darn near traumatic, like being stuck on the road with a drained battery. What would you do then?
As the article and comments point out, there are a lot of different angles on "tech" and "screen time." These terms describe the way media is distributed and consumed, but they say nothing about the content. Yet, we still often talk as though they did. Sure, you can watch animated gif memes on a tablet, but you can also use that table to read Ulysses. (Or read the New York Times, and engage in written discussion about the articles with other readers. That seems not so shabby...)
A related pet peeve: Complaints that people in public -- e.g., waiting on a subway platform -- look at their phones instead of engaging one another. I can only assume these folks never experienced late 20th century urban America. Screen-staring on subway platforms seems to me an outgrowth of the "avoid eye contact" urban survival mantra of the 70's and later. While screen staring also happens in social and family situations, it's often used as a polite way for people who really don't want to interact at that moment to avoid an awkward situation. (Previous iterations: long trips to the restroom, going to make a call on the payphone, checking to make sure the car is OK, etc.)
We've been surrounded by personal screens long enough that you'd think we'd be more sophisticated than to generalize about the effects of "technology." Most people realize Instagram memes don't represent all photography. We should realize they don't represent all technology either.
7
Every new technological advance comes with unintended consequences. This is no different.
5
The more I retreat from tech the better I feel. I’m sitting on the fence always brooding over whether the positives outweigh the negatives or vice versa.
But I’m so grateful I had to use a landline telephone to call my first crush in high school to ask her out to the movies. She was a year older and I wasn’t driving yet so I had to slip in there if she could swing by and pick me up too. But I’ll never forget how nervous I was — I hung up three times practicing — and how beautiful her voice was when she said yes.
17
I'm not sure what the point is here--an acknowledgement that all the risks of tech addiction are real but that we should simply achieve a "balanced perspective" without becoming luddites? Check. The real issue is what we are disconnecting from as we connect constantly--and what the social-emotional and environmental consequences of that imbalance will be.
6
On a recent long car trip with my teenage daughter, she requested twice as many bathroom stops as usual. It took me a while to realize that they were really Wi-Fi stops for her Ipod Nano. The itchy desire to text, and inability to handle not being able to, created a person who could only be described as an addict. So you can talk all you want about how you are 'balancing' your phone use, yada yada, but it only takes eyes to see what it has done to the people around us.
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@Mary
You are not alone; can you imagine the problems this causes in the course of a 6+ hour school day. Every school day is like a long car ride, except the kids don't need wi-fi pit stops.
10
@Mary - who bought her this technology in the first place? You do control your kids' technology access and use, you know. And before you make a bunch of excuses--just don't. Don't.
2
@Mary
Children and teens = always clever and finding loopholes to everything. :)
Good for you in catching and interdicting her on this.
2
Some screen time is very dangerous to your health. Jaywalking across a busy street, with your back to traffic, while looking down at your phone is one good example. Yet we see supposedly tech woke people do it every day in every city in the country.
5
The worst impact of communication technology is that is has fed our hubris. Our belief that we know and understand more than we do "because we read it on the internet". We may have more information, but we sadly lack in knowledge.
14
There is nothing wrong with technology. Social media, on the other hand, is a catastrophe. This is particularly true of political twitter etc. They are divisive and those who use it are extremists.
7
@Neildsmith
I agree.
It really should be named "anti-social media" in my view.
5
The big problem with smartphone tech is not convenience but fragmentation of our focus and attention span which leads to such absurd situation like giving birth while texting on a smartphone. The inability to be mindful of what’s going in the present physical world is a form of depravation and probably unhealthy in the long run.
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@heinrich zwahlen Yeah, I didn't understand that part about why a medical tech would allow a germy device to go in there; who wrapped it in plastic?
Good copy, of course, for those willing to offer up such life stories to present as career or social media fodder.* Some are more reluctant to do that.
-------
* Next thing you know we'll have presidential candidates too busy to take time out to have their teeth cleaned, so they'll take potential voters into the dental chair with them... ;-)
1
The biggest danger of these devices is how they remove us from the present... and the impact of that on healthy attachment for infants and children. Get into the neurobiology of attachment: how important touch and eye contact is, and how critical being present and feeling the presence of another is for our health and well-being, and you will be more clear about the dangers.
The truth is, you were not present with your child as you were about to give birth, and that does have an impact. That can be repaired, but not if you go on to live a distracted life, because being distracted from your child at high rates will result in ambivalent attachment for them. Which in turn can lead to addiction and relationship difficulties amongst a myriad of other health problems.
22
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@Barbara,
The present is not a good world;
There's a better world online --
we have SO much power to create that world to our likes.
.
1
As land lines & public phones disappear, it's easy for young people to imagine that staying in touch was difficult before the advent of cell phones. It was not. One's behavior adjusted to the requirement to stay in one environment while talking, just as one adjusts to dropped signals & noise now. And my impression is that we actually listened to each other more, when communication was a part of life, instead of replacing it. If you grew up without cell phones & without the internet, remind yourself of what it was like: take a trip & do without them for a month. I have done so, and I am convinced that life was better. Marginally less convenient? Maybe, but that is 90% a question of expectations. I'm sure there are those who disagree.
14
You can do anything as long as you don't over do it. I loved video games until I worked at a video game company. Then, I had to do it for a living and the fun factor started wearing off work quickly.
4
"But while the downsides of continuous partial attention have been made abundantly clear, we shouldn’t forget that the concept of instant communications is profound..."
I don't consider that accurate. Instant communication became a real thing with the invention of the telegraph.
It became popular and personalized with the telephone. What we currently have is not just "instant communication;" it's "constant communication." It's as though we have become a flock of birds whose tweeting---
Eh, too obvious an analogy.
It's like we can't recall that a few hours of private time, alone, with our own thoughts and feelings is an acceptable thing. It's that we struggle to appreciate the friends sitting next to us when you can constantly be in touch with 500 more in the digital realm.
This is not healthy.
54
I would guess seeing all the downsides is easy. But seeing all the positives takes more effort.
1
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@David Martin,
Huh? Seeing the positives is real easy --
just look on your device screen
.
1
Every offer of convenience comes with a price, the scooping up of your personal data. Everyone using the internet should be aware about privacy issues. They should be particularly concerned about what is dubbed surveillance capitalism. That involves corporations making money by obtaining as much personal data about you so the can accurately predict your behavior and modify your behavior. The coming of 5G and the internet of things promises to make surveillance capitalism even a great threat than it is now. The question is will the government go along with the corporations pushing this massive invasion of privacy or will it act to protect the public from this ongoing and growing threat.
7
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@Bob,
The govt can change its tune in how to protect the public : more regulation vs deregulation.
So we should learn to protect ourselves from the insatiable corporate exploiters.
Among othr protective programs, I run Ghostery that blocks alota snooping, and its free
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@MinisterOfTruth
I try to block tracking cookies and take other measures when using the internet on a computer but I doubt that I am having much success. I don't use a cell phone much so at least the apps can't be obtaining too much data about me. With the internet of things which is here and expanding your entire house will be feeding data to some company as will your car. The key point of surveillance capitalism is that we are not the customers, our experiences are the raw material of the economy. Sort of like iron ore in the industrial economy. The customers are the companies that buy predictions of our behavior. There is nothing in it for us. Empowerment is a bunch of baloney they use to get our data. We are just there to be used for data and to be controlled such as steered to certain stores. I don't think individuals acting alone can fight this. Too few people understand the technology well enough to be effective and most are unable to comprehend how they are being used. The companies are really good at making it look like we are benefiting. I believe only the government has the power to make a real difference.
1
Cell phones, apps, internet, and social media give us more information without knowledge, more face time without human interaction, talk devoid of communication, and sensation without feelings. In fact, if you use all the hi-tech stuff to make life more convenient only, and not to substitute better traditional alternatives you are better off. The problem is not of the balance but of the smart use.
8
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@Jack,
"Smart use" : to create knowledge from info, think
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I don't think that the downsides are "abundantly clear" at all. This phenomenon is changing humanity in the way we interact (or not),with others and with the natural world. A question to ask is "What are you not doing while you are focused on your individual technology?" The trouble with "addictive" habits is that it alters mood and outlook in a way that masks natural perception of the world to the point where we lose the ability to notice stuff that is not being fed directly to us, and it smothers imagination.
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@JimmyMac,
"Addictive" in quotes bc its not additive, an overusd word.
Truth is, in the online world we have much more power to filter out the world's excess, and often toxic, baggage,
so among other things, that stimulates imagination
.
2
@MinisterOfTruth The quotation marks were used to indicate that the term, while widely used, is not necessarily precisely correct.
2
@JimmyMac..My parents sat in front of the TV every night for hours doing little inaction with me...they also read magazines on weekends...it just a different disconnect.
2
Twitter is for extroverts, so is facebook and most all social media. I don't use any, I read reddit if I need a dose of online social media.
1
The problem is that most people who spend 7 hours per day on screens are not doing the things Ms. Swisher mentions. They are mindlessly scrolling social media, watching YouTube, playing games, etc. They are not consuming any news (past headlines). They are not having random thoughts and letting their minds wander because they never go longer than 3-5 minutes without looking at their phones. I'm no psychologist, but I find it hard to believe that this kind of lifestyle day in and day out can be healthy.
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@Robert,
And your sources for this sweeping critique of " most people who'r online 7 hrs / day " ?
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1
The problem with this tech is the general populace is forced to adopt. We live in a “competitive world” based in capitalism. If I don’t have a smart phone, no one will hire me in the Bay Area for a position that pays a living wage. I don’t want to use a smart phone or computer but cannot stop because of expectations by my peers. This constant competition is draining mentally to me and anyone else who isn’t interested in competing in money making but we’re forced to in order to eek out a modest living. I’m happy for people like the author who lack the imagination and thought to be free of constant communication. At least they are happy while we destroy nature and compete for more and more advanced nature and live an unsustainable life style.
39
I spend more and more of my time lately reading books. Except the books I read are on my "gizmo". I like the ability to change font size in accordance with how tired I am, read in the dark, and carry gobs books in my pocket.
So this increase-- am I spending more time on tech? Or on traditional pursuits? Besides reading books on my "phone", I can look up practically anything, get maps, news, weather reports. I can take pictures and play music. I can even check out what time it is. Oh, and I almost forgot-- I can make phone calls.
Here is this little 7 ounce or so thing that replaces my phone, watch, atlas, encyclopedia, book collection, record player, camera and gives me immediate access to news and weather reports.
How is it possible that the author or anyone feels the need to apologize for and justify this? How is it possible that some E.U. bureaucrat denounces this? (I think I understand Brexit a wee bit more.)
As long as people stay away from that snapbook, facetweet, linkedmessenger garbage and don't pour in lots of passwords and use these little gizmos to access financial and other sensitive information, in other words, as long as people use common sense, these tech-things are just really wonderful. Ms. Vestager: I hope you can achieve a good life for yourself by carrying around a camera, book collection, phone, record player, etc etc on your back.
8
@David A. Perhaps because she was on her phone when she was giving birth?
As one gets older these devices become more confusing in their constant iterations. One's neck hurts, one's hands hurt, one's eyes are going. So I'll just say my usage is in the direction of need for communications or information. Recreationally I stay away from them.
3
People say that we don't yet know the consequences of the tech revolution.
I teach K-12 gifted students, and here is what I see:
- Little to no interest in history, art, language, science. In other words, they don't really care to learn any of it.
- The arrogance of the ignorant. They truly don't care about anything outside of their smartphone/videogame universe. They wallow in so much data that they don't have to think hard - ever
- A result of the 'easy life' when it comes to information is that these kids don't have any interest in developing mature rational processes. Why should they understand what Einstein was saying? Eyes glaze over at the very prospect.
Don't get me wrong. There are some kids who are intellectually engaged and are building the critical thinking skills that will help them be able to think deeply and reasonably as adults. Too many kids, however, see no point in doing the work needed to be critical thinkers. I have too many students who can't answer a simple prompt (in any field) if it requires something other than a cursory thought. (The cursory thoughts for mature critical thinkers are far more reasonable than any cursory thought produced by the kids who can't be bothered.)
My prediction is that society will be bifurcated along critical thinking lines - those who 'can't think' and don't see the point of learning will be one stratum, and those who maintain the human history of developing thinking skills will be another stratum.
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@SM2
I teach 8th grade science (chemistry and physics). Same set of very disturbing observations here. The teachers I talk all share the same thoughts. Uninspired, incurious, unmotivated, and uninterested in what we have to offer.
Ultra-short attention spans, eyes glazed over as you describe. Demonstrations that have created excitement and enthusiasm among students for the last 25 years are now met with shoulder shrugs and blank faces. This tectonic shift in student disinterest and a knowledge gap that doesn't bother them in the least will place the very small minority who have not succumbed to the addiction of cell phones at a huge advantage to the silicon zombies.
And this discussion does not even begin to broach the topic of inappropriate content and use (sexting by pre- and early teens).
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@SM2 - The arrogance of the ignorant. Brilliant line.
Around the world, technology is feeding the belief that knowledge is simply something stored digitally rather than something understood through critical thinking. The rise of Trump and populism and our incredibly poor political discourse is directly tied to the arrogance of those with access to technology in believing that can substitute for analytical thinking.
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@SM2
I have seen similar trends at the university level.
30
I grew up in the Midwest - corn and soy beans country. A farmer with a 40 HP ford tractor could effectively farm 40 acres of these crops. Now giant 24 bottom gang plows, followed by the discs wide enough to reduce the plowed ground so that it could be planted by a 24 row seeding machine as well. When harvesting, the farmers had 24 row corn pickers with lights, AC and no dust to be breathed. A farmer in IA had 2 sons who figured out a way to accurately measure the yield of corn for the purpose of identifying areas needing additional attention. During harvest these pickers run 24/7 to harvest the crop before it can be rained upon.
A similar thing happened in the south with huge cotton picking machines making the harvest of cotton very quick and efficient. When I first moved to Atlanta, large numbers of young black people came to Atlanta looking for work with no training or education. The open banks then were ripe for robberies.
Tech is not bad. I once volunteered to pick grapes in the Napa Valley for Joe Swan. If you have never done stoop labor, it is hard. Now many use large harvesters to pick the grapes. For very sensitive grapes like Pinot Noir, this is done at night to reduce the amount of cluster shatter. Caesar Chavez tried to stop this advance in tech to keep the maximum number of harvesters in CA.
BTW, hundreds of years ago, saboteurs got their name from throwing their wooden shoes into the automated process machines they were working on.
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@Butch Burton
I hear you. As an engineer I love anything newer, faster, better. I love all this tech--and I'm nearing seventy. You don't have to be young to love this stuff.
But, I only love the part that makes life easier. Unfortunately, too much of this nonsense makes everybody dumber. It's an echo-verse of yelling and screaming opinions at each other. That aspect of tech has done nothing for me but make me rather thick skinned. Five or six years ago, I'd be shocked by tweets and posts, now I mostly mutter an expletive under my breath and move on.
As for Cesar Chavez, this is what he said about automation: “Our union is not against automation and machines. The only difference we have with the growers is that we feel technology was given to man by God not only for the privileged few, but to everyone. The dispute is not that machines are coming in. The dispute is that the workers should also be the direct beneficiaries of technology and mechanization.”
I wish the low-paid or out of work unskilled white people in this country would understand that they're fighting the same battles that Mr. Chavez fought for Mexican farm workers fifty years ago. If they understood that, they wouldn't be Republicans. But, as I said, everybody's getting dumber and dumber largely due to social media.
2
Like all addictions, it really only matters when the addiction starts to create problems in our life or when it becomes truly impossible to stop. Non problematic addictions are usually just called "habits."
The devices, however, are actually designed to addict people, and they do. 7 hours a day on a screen seems like an awful lot of time, time that could be allocated to anything else since we choose how to "spend" our time. And that 7 hours of usage is spread out over the course of an entire 24 hour day presumably, so it's not like it's 7 hours of an 8 hour work day.
That means if most of that 7 hours of usage is work-related, it's probably more like a 12 hour "work" day, which seems heavy to me.
Even simply looking at 7 hours a day of screen time, that's 15 weeks per year, or nearly 4 months of the year spent looking at down at a screen instead of looking out at the world. That seems like a lot. 1/3 of my life spent on the device. If that's how you want to spend your time, so be it.
I find my own life is much better when I avoid most of the "twittersphere" and just experience the people I can actually see located at the place I currently am. I'm 50, I graduated stanford in 92 with a tech degree, was a technologist most of my career and today I avoid as much tech as possible. Great tools. But I don't sleep with my hammer on the night stand and I certainly wouldn't spend 1/3 of my life using it unless I was a carpenter.
16
You seem to have a nice balance of consumption and creation. And it seems that your primary sources of consumption, NYT and WP, are a healthy diet of principled journalism. As a high school teacher working on my school district’s three year technology plan, I can share that parents are very concerned about the lack of balance in the smartphone habits of their children. Those of us that came of age before smartphones tend to have a healthier relationship with these supercomputers in our pocket. Unfortunately, the same is not true for those that have come of age with the smartphone as sidekick.
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@Jack West
Alas the journalistic principles are weakening and the main stream media's choosing more n more tabloidization to boost profits
.
2
Refreshing! I was getting sick of hearing people complain that they're addicted to their phones; There too much to respond to; I don't have any privacy anymore; how do I handle it all??!!!
Then we get testimonials on "How I gave up Facebook! How I gave up my smart phone!; how I gave up (insert tech device here.)
Ridiculous! As someone who started on the forefront of the personal Computer age, I have always said to my users: 'Tech' is as complex or as simple as you want it to be. Privacy is easy as turning it OFF!
No one is forced to read every post, answer every call, respond to every text. Like any other tool, you control it. it does not and will never control you.
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@Joe Giardino
And how do you avoid the technology of facial recognition cameras to protect our privacy? Never leave your house? Maybe wear a mask in public? The way people are using technology will kill our species, not technology by itself. I don't trust the human race to use technology in completely benign ways.
14
.
@Joe Giardino,
Well put. These tech-scapegoating, doom-n-gloomers are ludicrous
.
@Joe Giardino Nancy Reagan had a similar idea for dealing with drugs: just say no. How did that work out? Apparently, it's harder to avoid the tech-based society than we imagined. Especially when it's in your face every day, calling your name.
3
Funny Kara could find so little "good" to mention.
Today's devices are good for emergency phone calls, granted.
Everything else is doing vast more harm to society than this piece would lead one to believe.
People have inverted attention spans, are obsessed with personal aggrandizement leaving them are often unable to focus. Most no longer find value in acquiring personal knowledge but depend on Google if they are ever called on to actually know something, like you used to learn in school.
Increased stress, exploding suicides, sacrificed personal security...you could write for days on the harmful results of today's tech. The author's balance sheet doesn't even make the effort...wisely.
23
@Ken Lawson If by emergency you mean 911 calls, they are not so good at that. The location data from these mobile devices are not very accurate. Uber, Google, Lyft et al are much better at locating you; 911 not so good.
2
We are increasingly ‘in-touch’ with those not present, and ‘in-touch’ in a shallow manner.
Meanwhile, we are loosing touch with those in the same room with us.
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@JJ Corleone
Yes, thank you for pointing out the Orwellian language factor. Sending an abbreviated text message is being "in touch", casual social network correspondents become "friends", strangers who interact within an internet group become a "community." Words formerly used to describe real human contact have been appropriated by the tech economy and become systematically debased.
8
Addiction? I don't see the addiction in the author's behavior--merely a shift to use of 'tech' for work and personal ends.
Addiction is what's happening to our boys (and perhaps girls too). Gaming, no social life, no more musical instruments, no more reading of books, no more cooking...in fact, no more anything that isn't associted with a screen. Evidence: my three sons 17, 15 and 12. And we as parents do everything possible to encourage sports, wilderness trips, music, books. No interest. And it's not rebellion. It's addiction.
The extremely important points fo the European Commissioner are the only thing of value in this piece. Too bad they don't even get seriously engaged by an author who has been given access to this platform. Sorry but to me this piece is pathetic.
87
Not sure we humans know what the future will look like and that is ok with me. Our long ago ancestors crossed many land bridges to leave Africa and start new cultures, and that is what we are doing, in a digital sense. They had no idea what was over the mountains, and we have absolutely no idea what 2200 will look like.
Yesterday's Times had an article detailing the jail-town that the Chinese had constructed for Muslims on the western edge of the Chinese empire. Frightening and all to possible, it is one possible future.
Or, we can use our tech to learn and teach and bring back community to America.
In my 70's, I won't be here to see it, but I am betting on the latter.
Hugh
22
@Hugh
Nice sentiment, and I like to think positively of a future for not only me kids, but for all of the human race.
If we consider that there is more processing power now in the average smart phone, than what was in all of the space/moon missions (combined?), then one wonders why we (as general explorers) have not continued on the trajectory of visiting other planets and the stars ?
Instead, we have used technology (for the most part) to use up our planet in new and every quickening ways. (or just to have a better platform for gossip)
I am still hopeful, and I think that with said technology, there will be a human (or group of) that will be heard from the far reaches of the planet.
Technology threatens us, but will save us too.
4
My question for you and the college students I teach is this: What are you missing? What is the scope of your world, and how have you determined its boundaries? Is there anything else you could be doing with your time?
13
@Becky
That is the problem with a narrow, (phone screen width) view of the world, Your students don't even know what the possibilities are, beyond the next snapchat or Instagram or weather report.
1
I was concerned about my phone usage, so I started using the iPhone's Screen Time (under Settings), which gives you a breakdown of your phone usage by category (Safari, Youtube, texting, etc.) and how much your usage has increased or decreased week-to-week. My screen time is now down to less than two hours a day and dropping still. Of course, the risk is that I start checking my screen time to gauge my success so often that it actually goes up!
@John G
I got the same notice, and my phone usage has tracked steady at between 2 hours and 30 minutes and 3 hours per week. I am pretty happy with that, but then again, I use my real computer to watch mlb.tv in the evenings instead of my phone. I am sure that running baseball in the background every night increases usage by 15 hours a week!
Every single day we all make a myriad of little choices that for most are bad, create all new levels of addiction by hard wiring our brains over time.
For too many it becomes a compulsion to check into any app or social media platform that will give instant recognition and get those synapses firing. Smart phones are becoming an extension of arms. (even going into the emergency room)
The potential for good from technology does outweigh the bad (access to people, goods and information for billions), but soon (just like in life) there is going to be a veering off for the upper class from the lower ones. (ending of net neutrality)
Once that comes into full effect, then it will be like gambling addiction, where families will splinter apart as some will need their fixes at all costs.
There might not be anywhere to unplug by that point.
5
@FunkyIrishman
There might not be anywhere to unplug by that point.
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STRONGLY disagree...
There are way more "unplugged" places in this country than they are areas that are tech addicted. With spring and summer coming on, most of the country indeed will turn off their devices, spend real time with their loved ones, and get outdoors. IN so many of these places, you simply cannot opt in to all the features you can in the bigger markets. You'll be waiting a long time for an Uber or a meal to come to the door in most parts of the country...
Americans will always have the options to turn off, opt out, and drop off the grid.
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@Midway
I was speaking of actual having a planet. since we are so busy with technology, power and making a buck (at all costs - even to the environment) that we are extinguishing ourselves.
If you want to get a sense of what I am talking about then take a look at the photos of Accra, Ghana (as an example). There are plenty of documentaries as well.
Let's get all excited over the next app though, and take our eyes off the ball.
5
@FunkyIrishman I was speaking of actual having a planet. since we are so busy with technology, power and making a buck (at all costs - even to the environment) that we are extinguishing ourselves.
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I disagree with that too.
"we" is not as all encompassing as you make yourself out to be...
Plenty of simple people are out here, living simply. Using computers and phones, but not to the extent you couldn't put it down for a long weekend, or that it is priority number one in your family life.
Think of it like this carbon/gas tax that will be imposed on all drivers across the land doing everyday things like heading to work: would "we" be asked to pay so much to bear the "needs" of all those flying above us back and forth across the world in search of the latest best places? "We" didn't cost the environment just by living: others created this dilemma via their over consumption and imposed those external costs on the rest of "us.".
(I think that is why the author here downplays the external social costs to others, and plays up the benefits that she sees today in her own life.)
1
The printing press was an equally big experiment in human communication. And the invention and mass production of household appliances in the 20th century was more important for more people. Suddenly, it was possible to store perishable foods for longer, cook without chopping wood or buying coal, wash clothing without a trip to the well and hand washing/air drying.
Much of what is available from the tech revolution is information or entertainment. The remainder is faster delivery of goods and/or services. Real convenience would be robotics that actually do the work (I see virtually no improvement between pushing a button or giving a voice command.). For the very disabled, these things may make an important difference. For the rest of us— is it really that hard to get up from a chair, walk over to the machine, and turn it on instead of remaining seated and telling the dishwasher, oven or thermostat to do something?
14
@Lawyermom
"Alexa, wipe my rear end..." I think you are right. The "have tech do it for me" mindset has to end somewhere...
4
The problem with this technology is that it's addictive by design. Facebook, Twitter and Youtube prioritize keeping people engaged with their sites and checking their feeds throughout the day over anything else and Smartphones make it so that these services are always, ALWAYS at your fingertips.
I'm no luddite; the internet can be an amazing tool. but I've found near constant internet access to be detrimental to my own well-being and have made efforts in the past year to curb my usage.
12
There's paranoia about effects of social media and tech in general but it doesn't need to be bad or good to not be the best use of time. I follow interesting people on Twitter and dont feel particularly bad about getting stuck in one of those engagement loops and yet looking at the opportunity cost I'd probably be better off reading more books or doing something more active.
4
You have to look outside yourself to calculate the actual costs of your tech addition... The coast-to-coast airline flights back and forth for the family allegedly necessary for your job; the costs of having clothing and food and the every day essentials delivered --separately, likely -- to your house(s); the cost of recycling/discarding all of the latest tech toys when the new ones come in... (electronics aren't disposable, you know.)
Most of all, you haven't calculated the costs to society when everybody is encouraged solely to focus on " me and mine " and put their own needs first. The early adapters might hit the pie first, so to speak but the overall effects to society are not healthy...
Think of it like owning real estate in Silicon Valley. Some benefitted, beyond their wildest dreams likely, when the market jumped and they were rewarded 10 times what the product was worth for getting in early... But now look. Hardly anybody else can find affordable stock. You're creating a whole new society ("community" is definitely not the word...) based on the way short-term-needs and convenience have come first before overall planning and considering the needs of others.
Some people might want to live like that, at first. Focusing only on themselves, and pitying others who are "behind" them. But I bet it doesn't pay off in the long run, not for all, and not even for the early adapters even, who may end up regretting what they have sold for the (small really) price they got
13
No message, life-or-death circumstances aside, is so important that it needs to be read instantly. To me, that's a delusion of self-importance, which is how this piece comes across, and the root of the problem. Kudos to the NYT though, for publishing this, alongside articles by writers like Cal Newton, so that everyone may decide for themselves.
In a world full of distraction, it's as crucial as ever to stay focused on what's "important."
17
@Tone Yeah, I didn't mention that... think of the pedestrian, biker, and driver/passenger deaths on the road, and especially the shoulders, when people are too tech addicted/distracted to put down their phones while driving...
The techies are trying to convince us that it's safer to take the driving out of our hands -- that the machines will be programmed to be better drivers -- but to get to that selling point, you have to assume the newcomer drivers are all distracted, multi-tasking, and not paying attention to what they are doing.
You really can't ride scooters everywhere, and at some point, the biggest, heaviest piece of machinery on the road will protect the people inside. Do you want that driven by technology, or programmed by technology like the recent Boeing jets, or do you want a human being in there, someone not tech addicted and paying full attention to what they are doing?
I know what my answer is.
17
Yes, Ms. Swisher, tech is very good to you. You have a wonderful job and career at a very fine newspaper. Tech has also enabled many awesome (in the terrible and original sense of the word) fortunes, and created income inequality of very high proportions and will help hollow out the middle class nations around the world.
To be a little person in the age of tech is ever more frightening and the future employment prospects of the little person are ghastly. What will become of us little people: people of modest means and intellect? Are we forever destined to suffer lives of modest hope and live as peasants and paupers, bereft of an American Dream which serves the sleek, glamorous, well-connected, and tech-savvy?
77
@Hierocles I don't think the pauper's life is so bad. I am a full-time college student and I work part time as a pizza cook, with a modest lifestyle to match. But it's great. I have running water, electricity, internet, a very tiny apartment, classes I like. I try to own as little as I can. Isn't this the good life? I do not need nor want a large house packed with furniture and "stuff" in every room, nor a hulking SUV. When I read the Times, what's going on in the world? Lots of real poverty -- starvation, strife, lack of education, walking miles to get dirty water. The "good life" by U.S. standards is a style of living that is hard on the planet. We add too much CO2 into the air, and it's the world's poorest who will bear the brunt of the damage. Aquifers are drying up -- what's the future for the global food supply? Meat production uses a huge amount of water.
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@Chris Tucker
Please, get back to us when you are living like that at 50 years old, and tell us if it was a lifestyle choice or something externally imposed on you as our society accelerates and allegedly evolves.
34
@Midway thank you so much for this reply!! I want to say this to every young person.
4