A society of phone zombies
stevegattuso.me
stevegattuso.me
I guess maybe the moral of the story for me is that we would probably be happier people if we weren't fretting about a harmless thing people were doing and instead focused on our own happiness. Maybe instead of sitting there getting grumpy that a stranger was looking at a screen this guy could have just had a conversation with the person at his table? Maybe its time for people to stop throwing a fit about things other people are doing and maybe that would make us all a bit happier.
It's not about what others think of your technology use. It's what you think about it yourself. The reason many of us feel moved by the article and the video isn't some need to tell others what to do, it's the recognition that we ourselves are missing out on important parts of life in some kind of weird attempt to become a TV reporter.
So sure, for the .1% time that you're texting your sick wife with cancer and she's able to vicariously experience things, you are probably feeling pretty good about what you're doing. Now how about the other 99.9% of the time? Do you personally feel that all that tech use is in the interests of some greater good? If so, have fun with it. After watching my own habits, I am very doubtful that this is true. I see people all the time use tech in such a way that's directly opposed to their own best interests -- and they're smart enough to realize this, too. The problem isn't my judging them -- heck I don't care what people do -- it's that we're turning into a society that's spending significant time doing things that we don't want to do. They just give a bit of immediate gratification.
Youtube comments are generally terrible. Stormfront comments are terrible. 4Chan comments can be terrible. This comment had content directly related to article it was replying to, talking about the utility this technology can provide, and also that the main thrust of the article and the video it contains seems to be someone else's value judgement on what other people should enjoy.
So sure, for the .1% of the time that a comment on this site is actually derailing or contains just blatant flamebait, trolling, attacks, etc it probably feels pretty good to call it out as terrible. But for the other 99.9% of the time? Have some perspective, grapple with the content of the comment, and do so in a non-aggressive manner entirely in proportion to what you are replying to. Don't go for the over the top hyperbole, no matter how much immediate gratification it gives you.
> A few weeks ago, while out with some friends, I took everyone’s phone and powered them off for the night, saying that we were going to focus on the night rather than our “stupid fucking phones.”
> Next time you’re in a restaurant with friends, have everyone put their phones stacked and face down in the center of the table. If anyone takes their phone off of the stack during the meal, they have to pay everyone else’s bill.
The fact that you called my point a terrible point and projected that I must be "turning into a society that's spending significant time doing things that we don't want to do." when you don't know me at all is a pretty scary lack of self awareness. Your entire point is rock bottom terrible and you STILL start off by telling someone else that their point sucks. I don't even know why I bothered to respond because you don't seem even slightly interested in your argument connecting to the actual reality at hand and instead construct it to argue against a strawman version of our society you've built.
"So sure, for the .1% time that you're texting your sick wife with cancer and she's able to vicariously experience things, you are probably feeling pretty good about what you're doing. Now how about the other 99.9% of the time?"
Is the implication here that I must only be using my cell to waste time and drive myself into some sort of deep depression while being too stupid to realize it? Well finally the internet messiah came along to save me! Anyway, my call very certainly saves me time when I use it and I only use it when I need to. I'm not sure why I've become the example when I presume my habits must not be known to you?
This is a problem, sure. But it's not related to people themselves using their phones and being unhappy with their usage.
The comment was bad because it took a discussion around whether we are ourselves with our tech use and turned it into some kind of reminiscence about annoying mentally unhealthy people. That's a great story, but it has nothing at all to do with what this article is about.
If you and your wife are happy about your tech use, good for you. If there are rude people in the world, that's a shame. Okay. Got it. Now can we move on to the subject of the article, which is something along the lines of "are we really happy with our own tech use?"
Or we could continue talking about how rude the guy at the restaurant was, how rude I am, how people are always nosing into other people's business -- and a dozen other things not related to that. As long as you realize you're changing the topic, works for me.
I thought about reading through the comments here and participating, but I'm going out for a walk with my family instead.
I don't think you should discourage anyone from doing this because you don't know what you're talking about.
"The comment was bad because it took a discussion around whether we are ourselves with our tech use and turned it into some kind of reminiscence about annoying mentally unhealthy people. That's a great story, but it has nothing at all to do with what this article is about."
No actually the story pretty much reads like a "I'm sick of these damned kids doing this thing I don't like! I don't understand it and therefore it is evil!" story and assumes that every single time someone uses their phone at dinner they are terribly unhappy and socially unhealthy. My point was simply that he is wrong. There are many completely acceptable uses and sitting there watching someone do something productive or useful on their phone and thinking "this is upsetting! I need to stop this!" really reverses the role of who actually has the problem with unhappiness here.
"If you and your wife are happy about your tech use, good for you. If there are rude people in the world, that's a shame. Okay. Got it. Now can we move on to the subject of the article, which is something along the lines of "are we really happy with our own tech use?""
Um, yeah, my answer was simply. We are happy with our tech use but multiple people want to push a belief on us that we are not happy for no reason. This again seems much less mentally healthy to me.
"Or we could continue talking about how rude the guy at the restaurant was, how rude I am, how people are always nosing into other people's business -- and a dozen other things not related to that. As long as you realize you're changing the topic, works for me."
Whereas you being rude while being 100% disconnected from the topic in any way while twisting my words to the point they couldn't be recognized. Finally the messiah has come to save us all from our own stupidity right?
This article is about being on your phone putting your eyes on advertisements put out by facebook, buzzfeed, etc. because you need to be constantly entertained. It's an encouragement to people who are in that situation to stop doing it.
If you're not in that situation, proclaiming that you're not in that situation and that maybe other people aren't in that situation is a useless comment. It's simply not relevant to the discussion. It's like coming in to a discussion about Hulu and Netflix and telling everyone that you only watch live sports on broadcast TV. What's the point?
[EDIT: P.S. you're not, by any chance, Ryguy from Rangers blue squad?]
A) Think that NOTHING is bad. B) We should leave everyone alone, even if they are doing the worst thing.
Do you want to just start over with this point maybe? Seems like you maybe didn't think at all before making it the first time so I thought you might want another shot.
Thanks for being rude.
Your point, as I understand it, is that since there is one good use case for texting while eating, we should not discourage people from texting while eating in general. That is pretty clear from your post.
My counter point is that there are many things that have one good use, but are still bad overall. Following your logic, we should not discourage those things either, at least if we wanted to stay consistent in our application of logic. Considering that even most bad things have occasional positive side-effect, and following your logic we would end up not discouraging anything ever. Clearly that is not a desirable outcome, therefore I think your logic is flawed.
"Your point, as I understand it, is that since there is one good use case for texting while eating, we should not discourage people from texting while eating in general. That is pretty clear from your post."
Nope. My point is that when you see someone texting or on their cell. YOU DONT KNOW WHY THEY ARE DOING IT. Projecting a "they must be wasting their time, UGH I'm surrounded by brainless zombies" is utterly insane. My point is that instead of freaking out at people around you using their cellphones, maybe just don't freak out and project actions and emotions on people and mind your own business.
How you took this to mean "you think nothing is ever wrong" is well beyond any stupidity I am able to comprehend. Sorry if that was rude, but it is also true unfortunately.
it's not just about the cell facebookers
Even when I'm not working, I like being disconnected. It gives me a chance to reflect on my life. Where I am, where I want to be. Ideas I have. I find it difficult to produce anything of value to myself or others when I am too busy consuming stuff through my screens.
I think the worst part of smartphones are the cameras. I had an epiphany one day at some aquarium in NJ. The aquarium was mediocre, certainly nothing worth taking pictures of. But yet every group of people had to take videos of the fish, had to pose with the fish with their friends, etc (who knows why, those people will never view those videos ever).
Of course all of this picture taking took so long that people got bored. Why not, they couldn't see the fish, after all. So of course, everyone got on their phones and goofed off, which made the crowds even MORE sluggish, which made the whole affair take longer, and which made the aquarium experience even more boring.
I think that if phones were banned at the aquarium people would have gotten in and out more quickly, seen more fish, and had more fun. It's ironic that the smartphone--which is supposed to be whiz-bang-wow-entertainment-whenever-you-need-it--contributed heavily to making the aquarium experience boring for everyone.
Sorry to ramble! This issue means a lot to me. For a funnier presentation of what I just said, check out Louis CK's standup (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd2sRC3K9Hs).
You are fortunate to be on the maker schedule rather than the manager schedule[1]. As a teacher, I have to be on manager time while in the class and when in College. Creative thinking tends to be done at home/weekends.
[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html (I know most here will be familiar with the reference but just in case).
But here's the thing: Mindless people will be mindless. They'll find a way. Inconsiderate people will be inconsiderate. If they have an iPhone in their pocket, maybe they'll use that as the tool of their rudeness. But it's the person at the helm, not the device.
The solution isn't the removal or banning of the technology, but the age-old solution of introducing social norms about what is and is not acceptable behavior. We do this all the time with new technologies and other social changes. If you start sending a text message while I'm talking to you, that's extremely rude and unless you preface the act with "excuse me, I just realized I left my child at home next to an open flame and I need to make sure the nanny put him out" then I'm going to treat you as if you just perpetrated some combination of farting and shouting a racial slur. But if there are a few of us having lunch and you excuse yourself to send a couple of text messages or make a quick call while the rest of us chatter on, who cares? Go for it.
The same rules of politeness and thoughtfulness apply. They're not at all hard to figure out. And I think almost everybody has. Except for the few who, like I said above, are going to find some way to be mindless or inconsiderate regardless of what's in their pocket.
Huh. Good to know that those who carry non-iPhones are inherently more polite.
Maybe it would've been clearer had I written, "For example, if they have an iPhone..."
There is a difference of enjoying each other's company while being quiet and being rude while ignoring someone else. I wish some very talkative person wanting me to entertain them on the bus could have been entertained by their phone. I've often used books/ereaders/phone to keep others from talking to me (and enjoying reading of course). I think one major thing to discuss is not how much we're being distracted by technology, but more of how much priority we put on socializing face to face.
Nobody pulled out the newspaper during a meeting or a meal and pretended they were paying attention while really playing a game or reading some trite.
I also remember that everyone had their own kind of 'roughly tablet-sized' time waster, including crossword books, Reader's Digest, novels, magazines, and yep, even TV Guide.
Over the years this had expanded to portable game systems like GameBoy, virtual pets like Tamagotchi, the original push e-mail devices like BlackBerry and so on. Hell, even when Timex came out with Indiglo watches I remember people used to pull out their watches and compare backlights the way people started to do the same with ringtones on feature phones.
However the modern smartphone is the amalgamation of all of these things into one. So in one sense the smartphone is really just an all-in-one version of the separate time-wasters.
The key difference that I see isn't just that "after you read the paper for the day, that's it, it's done" (and I do agree with you on this point), it's that the mobile phone (especially the smart phone) also enables a new application that wasn't previously possible: engaging in conversation with someone else than the person(s) you are physically next to.
No previous method of communication was portable like this with the potential to allow you to bypass a physical conversation so easily. And on top of that, since the phones have access to so many social connections, people seem to have unlimited opportunities to engage in long-distance conversations while ignoring those present physically.
But someone else rightly pointed out in another comment that the problem isn't so much that this is possible, but that our social norms haven't updated to make this a truly rude act. I just went to our friends' American Thanksgiving party and watched many conversations halt at any incoming mobile phone notification. Which I find doubly-rude: that the conversations on the phone seem prioritized over finishing an in-person exchange?
I think the best thing we can do is to just own the device we like, and practice the social etiquette that we hope others adhere to as well.
The thing I find interesting is watching the different types, like for example, very early in the morning you get 'lower' class workers with a standard tabloid newspaper and overalls. The closer it gets to nine, the more they look like managers or office workers, and the more focused they are on their gadgets.
They are different social methods rather than one being anti- and one being pro-social [did I make that word up?]. However direct local conversation seems more social [to me] for sure.
Never pull out your phone unless you politely excuse yourself from the people you are with.
This will dramatically limit the amount of times you check, and on the off chance you really do need to check your phone, say a phone call, then it will be a politeness to those around you.
Do this just one night and you'll feel embarrassed every time you need to check it.
Among people I know, that is the standard practice; it's not something I've ever heard anyone advocate, it's just what everyone does. I'm intrigued as to what context you (and, by the looks of the comments here, lots of other HN posters) are in where people just break off in the middle of social interactions to mess about with their phones. That's such a basic violation of (what I take to be) standard interpersonal norms I have trouble imagining anyone doing it.
But then you also have the people who just scroll through Instagram or something similarly non-linguistic while you're in a conversation. They say they're listening but they "just do this naturally" or "I can do two things at once".
Whether their phone use is blocking or non-blocking of our conversation, it's simply a gesture of disrespect if done more than once or twice. If you don't like my company enough to give full attention, or your other friend is in an emergency, just excuse yourself and leave.
I think I'm going to start excusing myself when I find my friends are doing it.
I'd like to say it was just an age thing, but I see it all the time around my tech professional friends.
Just like when food was scarce and people ate as much as they could, and now that food is abundant many people can't limit themselves to sensible amounts, a similar thing happened with information.
When information was scarce, we consumed as much as we could, and now that it is abundant many people can't limit themselves to sensible amounts, and keep checking their email, twitter, reddit, HN, etc, on their smartphones.
Just as we learned to teach people who to deal with food abundance (and not successfully yet, unfortunately) we should one day start to teach people who to deal with information abundance
[1] http://andrewoneverything.com/post/43839194291/information-o...
The original iphone launch trained us that smartphones must have a data plan. You couldn't buy one without data. But now you can. I have an iphone with unlimited calls and texting, for $40 a month.
I use wifi at home, but when I'm out and about I'm not connected. I've never had a single problem as a consequence.
You might say "but....google maps!". I've found that without Google maps, I am forced to actually learn my way around. Within a day or two I know a new city better than most locals.
My phone is much less distracting as a consequence.
In another few years it's likely you won't even need to make the decision about whether you need or want a data plan or not. You'll just get data. At least I hope so.
Many people want their phones less distracting, but they lack the willpower not to check their phones. But remove the data plan, and you don't need willpower to avoid checking it.
My advice as an "iPhone under-user" (often without data plan):
Forevermap is an OSM-based offline map app, and is good enough in many countries. Definitely good enough to find your way home.
Never install Facebook with the excuse of messaging. The Facebook Messenger app is much more focused.
There's an iOS app that has a relatively recent dump of StackOverflow if you want to code on the train. I'm not sure if I want to recommend it as the UI is really sketchy, but it has helped me.
If what keeps people from checking their phone is the threat of having to foot an expensive bill, it's not so much a society of phone zombies, but a society of people with no self control.
If so, congratulations.
As for myself, I have no problem avoiding sugar, bad foods, alcohol, lottery tickets, cigarettes, drugs. I have dodged all those bullets. But the internet has a hold on me. I want to use it less, but it's compelling.
Some people don't have that, but they suffer other compulsions. Unless you have zero compulsions, I would not be so quick to judge others.
I'm still undecided on whether stuff is getting more addictive (http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html), or we're losing our ability to control ourselves, or both.
This is also the third time I've seen it expressed in the last half hour. Where do people get the idea that no one should be allowed to criticize them unless the critic is a flawless person? Is this the result of the "you're a special person" upbringing many of us suffered through?
Are you a perfect programmer? No? Then shut up, my code works. Are you a perfect father? No? Then shut up, my kid's behavior is none of your business. Are you a perfect driver? No? Then shut up, dotted lines are just suggestions.
No one is perfect. If you can't deal with criticism, consider it a reflection on YOUR character, not anyone else's.
He added more in another comment and rereading it I think it's correct, but that's how it came off the first time I read it too.
If the phone-stacking trick works, then it's a useful hack to retrain ourselves - at least for a moment - out of this constant impulsive consumerist haze.
To quote (of all people) Maddox:
> I kept staring at "my" picture, looking for some glimmer of justification for its existence, I thought that maybe I could show this to my friends as proof that I'd seen the portrait with my own eyes. But I'm not in this picture, so there's no proof I was ever there. Even if I was in the picture, it could have been photoshopped. And why would I need to prove it to anyone anyway?
I used to do this when I was younger, but I've come to realize that:
1. A professional photo of a famous destination looks seriously better than an iPhone photo.
2. The only reason people take these photos is to get more likes on Facebook and Instagram.
3. Nobody actually cares.
I've found myself enjoying a photoworthy location much more when my head is out of my phone and focused on the scene itself. This notion has served as inspiration for a recent project and venture I've been working on.
By definition, most of us on this site live our lives by technology. Especially as engineers, it's easy to get caught up in thinking about the tools we use, how to use them better, how to use them faster, and how to use the more. Just as important, however, is the ability to step back and think about when we should be using these tools, and how.
Technology is an incredibly powerful tool, but it's simply that. A violin is not music; it is simply a medium (literally) that a musician uses to create music.
It's all too easy to confuse the technique with the goal.
It's funny how you get called a Luddite by people who don't see anything past the shiny user interface.
It helps me a lot to recruit new users for my website. I usually start by asking them "Could you do me a favor and take a look at my website. I've not checked my site on your kind of mobile phone".
Currently, I have a success rate of 80 percent of users taking a look at the website, and out of them, roughly 70 percent go to sign up with Facebook.
Besides getting new users, I get invaluable insight into my users' behavior and expectations while peeking at their phones. Additionally, I can check out how my website works on different kinds of mobile phones, OSes and tablets.
So I am really happy with so many phone zombies.
I think we sometimes forget that we're allowed to do them both - but sometimes the balance gets skewed. Plug in if you want to, but when you unplug, unplug completely. It's bliss.
At some of our dinners, conversation will flow, and people will wonder about some fact, one of us will find it on wikipedia, conversation will ebb, and someone will check a feed for an interesting recent story to add to the discussion.
We used to have petty bar arguments, but now we're all able to quickly identify what's simply a research question, and we get far less invested. We now have debates or probing discussions about issues and values that are deeper and more personal than "who was that guy in that movie from the 80s."
I'd avoid guidance that tells you to always set some technology aside in some situations, and instead ask, "How can I use this tool to make what I'm doing better?"
Just keep in mind that you're involved in a group project, and the goal is increasing the total group's enjoyment, not solely increasing your personal enjoyment.
If you get that, then setting tech aside isn't necessary. If you don't get that, then setting tech aside isn't sufficient.
But never once have I felt powerless against it. I have one simple rule: don't use it when I'm talking to people. (Unless we want to look something up on Wikipedia, in which case we do it together). This is enough. Maybe I just don't know what all you other people are doing with your phones that make them so irresistible, but I am able to move fluidly between online and offline action in the world with no second thought. If I get a notification, I take the phone out for a second to read it and put it right back away.
Many times, the phone could be anything: If I have a magazine nearby instead, I read that. Or subway map. Or shampoo bottle.
What's the real complaint here? I've seen articles like this 100 times and frankly none of them ever brings anything original to the table. I actually think this is because they derive their clickability through their vagueness. Everyone knows some jackass who brings his phone out during thanksgiving dinner with grandma, and everyone has almost run into someone who has been looking at their phone instead if the street. Is this really all you're complaining about? I'd call these minor inconveniences at best, rude behavior at worst.
Predictably, In an effort to fill the void left by actual specific examples and details, these arguments/videos take on some sort of mystical "not enjoying the world" vibe. How do they make this leap so readily? It's easy to do because everyone loves to think the rest of the world is made up of zombies. But does it even logically follow?!
That video he references has come up everywhere and seems to resonate with a lot of people. It seems to focus on the idea of savoring the moment, whatever that means. Our Galtian heroine can do it, no one else can.
I see this woman as desperately and reactionarily clinging to a past that never existed, or at best an artisan-crafted inconvenience-sporting charming paradise.
Let's get to specifics. Let's discuss specific times when we think it's not ok to talk on the phone -- at dinner, when walking on a crowded street, with grandma -- and let's give up on this high-blown pretentious rhetoric about connecting with the world and savoring the moment. It's frankly counterproductive--instead of discussing the new norms that always-connected technology dictates in specific detail, these articles have wandered into mystical, unrefutable territory that is usually the subject of religious belief, not pragmatic policy-setting.
There's a weird kind of "back in the idealistic days of yore" element to this. Texting during meals, for example, isn't something I regularly do. But. I can think of many situations where it's been important in solving a social problem. For example, if someone got lost en route and needs a little help. Or is running late and just wants to politely let you know to go ahead and order. To ignore those messages would be kind of an asshole move.
Remember when not everyone carried mobile phones? Basic communication when people were out-and-about was wildly inconvenient if not completely impossible. Tons of time and energy got wasted doing basic tasks we now completely take for granted.
Seriously, there's a middle ground with everything, too much TV, on the laptop, playing video games. Individuals need to evaluate their own life and valuable interactions. At least the guy in the video made the hike instead of getting a virtual tour.
I noticed this the other day, and I realized the root urge behind "phone zombie" is to connect with other people: Friends, news, the world at large. Mobile phones are the inevitable byproduct of humans being incredible social animals.
(I try to minimize my own notifications and mobile phone usage, but to each their own).
The author's definition of "not seeming like an imposing ass" is very different than mine. If anyone I knew suggested that I would probably end up never wanting to go out with them ever again. Yeah, screw that. If you don't want me using my phone tell me. Don't play stupid games. Of course I'll probably tell you to fuck off and go to hell...
Anyway, this problem is easily solved: http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Black-Unlocked-DualBand-Phone/dp...
And yeah, I have a similar phone laying around that I've been thinking about trying. The battery life on those suckers is absolutely insane relative to smartphones!
Not having the maps is occasionally annoying. Aside from that it's great, there really is no good reason to have a web browser in your pocket that can outweigh the damage from having the internet creep into real life.
But then I never really used any apps back when I had a smartphone anyway. Maybe the highly industrious networker types won't find it so simple.
It's selfish and dangerous as hell, and those who do it exhibit the same really obvious symptoms as those on foot.
Lack of situational awareness, delayed response, and the poor decision-making that results from those.
I wonder how Steve Roberts (http://microship.com/bike/index.html) feels about them.
Smartphone use in a vehicle is a problem, so I agree with the gist, but this part about you riding a bike is completely irrelevant to the point you made. But maybe you want some kind of cookie for being so respectful of the environment and conscientious enough to ride a bike on a regular basis. So I just wanted to take this moment and thank you for riding your bike. You're a good person. You should tell more people that you are a bicycle commuter so you can get more people to thank you for your service to the world.
I own a car. I drive it. A lot. You didn't need to know that.
But in the situation I described, I feel quite vulnerable, because I'm not in a car, and because I'm not on the sidewalk. In other words, because I'm on a bicycle.
Personally, and I'm sure the downvotes will keep flying in, I think it's completely reckless to ride a bike in dense traffic, surrounded by people who are on their smartphones and driving too fast, but you can feel all self-entitled to the road because the law just happens to be on your side (but not the infrastructure - not many bike lanes), but maybe instead ride on less busy roads or just don't ride at all.
I give bikers a lot of space, and everything that is required for them to be safe, but though I will never do anything less, I have learned to resent it. So many people riding their bikes just seem oblivious to their surroundings and make bad decisions and simply get in the way not caring. Then you come and post on the internet about how bad drivers are. I wish it was safer for people to ride bikes. I wish bike riding were a great thing where there were many lanes available, and everything was happy and safe, but it's not. So maybe just stop riding your bike, or ride on a less crazy road.
I'm pretty sure I don't live near where you live. Cars don't drive too fast. There are bike lanes. When I see a stop sign, I stop. I try not to piss off drivers.
You seem to be offering me a false choice: "stop talking about risk" or "stop riding your bike".
To say that driving while texting is bad without including the personal relevance is a hand-wavy general comment.
If you can't bring yourself to read a book, you might have a serious problem already :)
But in any case, you have made your position clear. You would prefer to see people harmed in order to make it easier for you to gain advantage over them because you believe in a dog-eat-dog world.
Thanks.
You celebrated an instance of this because you said you thought it would give you an advantage in competition against them.
I have found out that when I'm busy anyways with walking in the city, on the train etc. and I can't really take time for myself or just relax, with my phone I'm able to organize things or meeting with friends for activities later, so that when I really have time for myself with no one bothering me, I have organized everything already.
So what the smartphone enables me to do is that I can use 30 seconds here and there during my day when I'm busy anyways, and have that time free in the evenings for instance. These 30 seconds that I use around 100 times during the day, then amount to an hour additional free hour at the end of the day.
But what completely boggles my mind is actually letting the phone buzz me for anything other than an actual phone call. Even when I'm at my desktop the only notifications I get are skype conversations, and sometimes I turn those off too.
I think the problem isn't phones, it's notifications. We have become addicted to notifications on both phones and the desktop.
Maybe this already exists, but ideally I'd like to have unrestricted voice, but limited non-voice (I.e app) usage settings per day on phones.
https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1453418_673...
Perhaps we should just start to expect that we never have anyone's full attention. Indeed we never did.
Take a minute, and imagine all the places you would rather be right now, and imagine you could have anyone there with you. That's what humans lust for; it's why we spend so much money on vacations to exotic locations, or to live in nicer neighborhoods; nicer homes. But for the greater part of our history it has been exactly that; costly and time consuming. In the future, virtual worlds will be indistinguishable from the real world, and so the choice between the two will be simple. Why sit in an ugly cubicle in a stuffy office when you can be on a beach doing your work? Why drive 50 miles to visit an old friend, when both of you can go to the top of Mount Everest in the blink of an eye? Are your kids safe at school? Of course they are, because they are not physically at school, while at the same time getting lessons from the best teachers around the world.
It can be easy to imagine that world, and be horrified by it, because we fear that we will use it only for pleasure; never work. All those things experiences which will be common place in the future, are luxuries now. So they seem like pleasures, vacations. They will merely be commonplace, though; a normal part of your day. Have smart phones and the internet destroyed work ethic? Of course not. People always goofed off that much. Your grandfather didn't work harder than you; he probably just did more manual labor than our more service oriented job-o-sphere.
As for the fear of technology disconnecting people, I call baloney. Perhaps it has long been forgotten now, but it used to be that you'd kiss your loved ones goodbye in the morning and then never hear from them again until it was evening. Sometimes your significant other didn't show up. Stuck at work? Decided to hang out with friends? Mugged on the streets? Who knows! Then came along the telephone. Now you can stay in touch with those you care about, whenever you want. I don't call that technology destroying humanity. That's technology doing the most beautiful thing it can do; connect us.
Back to what I was getting at about the past and future colliding. If we're ultimately headed into a future where we spend most of our lives living in the virtual/augmented, then what we see today is that awkward in-between phase. Because of the limitations of today, our exotic virtual worlds are crude websites like Hacker News, Twitter, Reddit, etc. But they are virtual worlds. They're little vacations we can go on. We get to meet new people, read new stories, experience new things. It's primitive. But it's already powerful. We forget so easily, because of the crudeness of the technology, that when we're online we are interacting with other live human beings. The only difference between that and the real world is that it isn't triggering our primal sense of reality. That will change.
When I'm walking down the street, I see an ugly suburban landscape. I don't want to be there. I want to be on the exotic, tropical island called Hacker News reading about the success or failure of someone's dream, and maybe chat with them about it. That's beautiful to me. And thanks to modern technology I can choose to do that. A decade ago, I couldn't. I would have been stuck, staring at the cold concrete under my feet, awkwardly making conversation with someone I have nothing in common with.
In other words, the author of the article talks about experiencing the world around you. But that speaks to old notions about what is around us. A hundred years ago, the world around us was limited to what was physically, gravitationally around us. Today, the world around us includes that which our smart phones allow us to see. We can experience not just our local space, but the lives of those halfway around the world. I say, don't isolate yourself, pick up the phone and experience the world around you.
Now, I preach on this a bit because I don't see many people doing it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate articles like Mr. Gattuso's, and I'll explain why in a moment. But I hardly ever see views like the one I expressed, written about. I believe it is because we're in such an awkward in-between right now. And it's hard to notice just how much good technology has done, especially if you demonize it. We don't question our ability to call our loved ones and let them know that we'll be a few hours late that night. It has become so much a part of the human experience, that when we demonize technology, we ignore how much we'll truly lose if we "put down the phone."
Again, I do appreciate Mr. Gattuso's article greatly and all others like it. It's a reminder to us all that we need to be careful and adapt. Yes, the powerful new ability to be anywhere, and do anything, with anyone, will cause problems for a large group of people. Just like gambling is a problem for a lot of people. But this has always been the case. Everyone uses something to escape from where they should be. Books, TV, daydreaming, etc. It takes real effort to live a healthy and happy life; it never was easy. Personally, being an introvert, I'm all too familiar with how much effort it can take to have a healthy social life. Is ever advancing technology going to make it easier to be unhealthy and unhappy? Yes! Of course! Just like alcohol can be used responsibly to relax, and used irresponsibly to destroy lives. Smartphones too are a double-edged sword. But on the whole, my opinion is that technologies like these will not introduce problems that did not already exist. And the benefits they will provide, to connect us in ways we've never experience before in mankind's history, will provide such a tremendous wealth to our civilization we must not stop it.
TL;DR: Put down your smartphone when you are where you want/should be. Pick it up, when you want to be somewhere else. How is that evil?