What's more astonishing is the fact that people are being drawn in to the notion that these things are a part of our being. Some people actually treat their phones like their babies. Need proof? There's a blackberry case that attaches to a baby stroller. Yes, you can now walk your precious month old baby down the street, whilst you're texting and not paying any attention to your surroundings at all! Sounds too good to be true, I know. But, here's the sad part. It is true, and to an even greater extent than aforementioned. There was an experiment done with students at a major university, where a clown on a unicycle pedalled his way around campus. The test was to determine whether or not students would see. Not talk to, not make comments about, but merely see a brightly coloured, unicycling, wobbly clown going right past them. Needless to say, the students on cellphones did not see the clown. Back to the previous baby stroller issue: if using a cell phone prevents noticing a brightly coloured entertainer, then what's to stop this cell phone use preventing someone from noticing and incoming car or bicyclist... headed straight for their baby. It's a gruesome thought, but it's a necessary one, and it raises the question... are we digital dummies?
In this article from CBC, they asked that question, and so much more.
Using technology, or should I say, abusing technology, has become an epidemic. Work hours have stretched from working 47 hours a week, to over 70 hours a week. This has in turn, caused an increase in stress, which has a whole slough of negative side effects. Cell phone usage has also been linked to decrease in job and life satisfaction, as well as an increase in marital/relationship quarrels. But it's not just cell phones that are the major players in this digital addiction. It's also computers. One man stated that he spent "probably 8 hours a day. maybe 12 to be honest", hours using a computer. With 24 hours in one day, that's half the day spent on your butt doing... whatever you want on the computer. One kid became so addicted to his computer, that he spent literally days on end, without much movement at all. This prolonged inactivity caused a bloodclot in his leg, and he had to have his leg amputated. He was lucky he didn't lose more than his leg in the incident.
This could have been completely prevented by limiting the usage of his technology. I, for one, am taking the article's message to heart. I spend way too much time staring at a computer screen, and not enough outside, or doing things other than being on Facebook, or surfing the internet. Despite what many (including me) thought about information gathering online, it's not as good as it's made out to be. Getting information through prolonged computer usage requires quite a bit of shifting from one piece of information to the next. Our brains don't have time to concentrate fully on any one thing, and therefore we lose the ability to give any substantial amount of focus into our activity at hand.
The solution? Stop being digital dummies. Use your cell phone quickly to do what you need to do, but don't sacrifice safety. Use the computer for your school work, or information gathering, but then leave and go take a break. Read a book. Do anything other than staring into a screen of brain-altering information.
Don't be a digital dummy.
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