For those who remembers the early 1990’s, it was a time when our awareness was heightened. What everyone sensed was that something huge was about to happen. Then it did, big time. That era was the cusp of the digital revolution, where it promised a brand new technology.
There was once a time, when we had to work for everything. Where instant meant "almost" automatic. Then the ease that is digital sprung, and completely altered the way that we now live. We now take it for granted, something that once needed to be earned, is now given to us, gratis.
Life as a result has propelled forward, and has become lightening quick, a lot more ephemeral, becoming virtually instantaneous. In a world of give me everything now, our patience as a result has become paper thin.
We now live in a world, where the Internet will immediately give us any type of information we want, with a few strokes of the keyboard. Our attention spans have become shortened, blunted, while digital connectivity has completely replaced face-to-face human interaction.
A World Of Instant
In just a span of two decades, what the world of instant everything has boxed us into, is our inability to pay attention. Experts claim that our attention spans, have been reduced by at least one-third.
So because everything that we need, want, is now readily and instantly available at the tap of our fingertips, instant gratification for something that we once needed to work for, we’ve become a world of robotic morons, with no need to think.
What the various studies reveal, is that we as individuals will lose our concentration quicker, now as soon as eight seconds. So if you can’t communicate information to someone within this time span, then they won’t remember it, and it’s lost forever.
Where’s My Smartphone
Fast forward to today, and life without our smartphones is unthinkable, as it’s social suicide to go anywhere without it, even when going to the bathroom.
According to a study that was commissioned by a major cellphone provider, the average person today checks their smartphone once every seven and a half minutes.
This obsession of all things instantly digital, has lead to new medical conditions. One of the most notable being nomophobia, which is the very real fear of being without your mobile device.
So if you break out into a cold sweat, this when you leave your phone just for a few moments, or god forbid at home, the stress levels elevates, and you’re afflicted with what’s known as smartphone attachment disorder.
Smartphone Anxiety
This is different however, when it comes to other digital devices such as our tablets or laptops, as the same attachment isn’t there. What tablets don’t activate, are the same drastic stressful emotions that our smartphones will.
The reason for this is we consider them to be more permanent, more of a stay and use at home or the office device. Something that we can conveniently place on our laps, as we watch the news on TV.
Once we lose sight of our smartphones for even a few moments however, it becomes a frightful situation. What it evokes, is a sense of deep personal loss, this to the outside world, this regardless of where we are.
Becoming A Habitual Obsession
What the experts claim is that our smartphones have become so addictive, that it now activates the same emotional response as being addicted to playing slot machines at the casino. The spell is cast because of a sense of loss.
What smartphones provide, is an immediacy of response, which offers instant gratification, along with the satisfaction that we get, which forces us to crave more of it, and wanting more of it right now.
This Is Our Brains On Smartphones
What having this technology instantly at our fingertips means, is that we no longer need to think, to use our brains to remember names, numbers, dates, facts, places, answers to the simplest of questions.
So why would we even bother to use our brains any longer, as it takes too much effort and energy, if something like our smartphones can do it easier and faster for us.
Why Me Think
What research has found, is that we now use our smartphones for every little whim, as we've become reluctant to exert any effort to use our brains, which is programmed to take the path of least resistance, to be lazy.
It’s known that we now use the apps on our digital devices, or search for information on the Internet, this for even the most simplest of queries.
Answers that we can usually come up with on our own, but won’t bother doing so, as we’re no longer willing to invest the cognitive energy that it takes to solve the problem.
When Smartphones Become Useful
Once we get over the annoyance and the anti-social behavior of everyone walking around us, with their head buried in their smartphones, talking or texting away, there are benefits that this modern technology can provide.
For instance, you’re at the airport and realize you have 30 minutes to wait. So instead of huffing and puffing and becoming impatient, what you can do is put your smartphone to work and get busy.
You can begin by reading your text messages, while responding to the constant email messages in your inbox. Then perform all the administrative tasks, that you once needed a computer at the office or home for.
Then you can open up your Facebook or Twitter account, and get caught up with the latest from your friends, family, news and associates.
So instead of an anxious stressful anger inducing thirty minute wait, what you had was a productive and an enjoyable time well spent, this thanks to the convenience of digital technology.