The other day, I had an argument with my husband because he found it unbelievable that I could not find my way around without using the Google map app on my phone. I realized that I grew up relying on GPS to find my way around, over time, I’ve grown so dependent on Google maps that I don’t possess GPS cells in my brain anymore. I realized how dangerous this can be and since our argument, I started to be more conscious of my surroundings, and try to find my way around without using Google maps. I know plenty of millennials like me who are very dependent on their phones for direction, or shall I say, everything really in our lives.
I started to imagine what my life would look like without my smartphone. First off, I will need to buy an alarm clock, I use my phone as an alarm. Then, I won’t be able to check my emails first thing in the morning when I wake up. Also, I will need to buy a radio player, because I usually listen to morning news through the WNYC app on my phone. When I get to work, I won’t be able to watch stupid french bulldog videos during lunch breaks. And after work, how am I supposed to listen to my favorite podcasts on my way back home without my iPhone? The list can go on and on. At this point, it is fair for me to say I will need to make a lot of adjustments to cope with a life without my iPhone.
Our phone is also our portal to the whole world, because we can use search engines apps on our phone to look up almost everything. Everything we search is also being recorded and the data then being sold and shared between corporations. Then we are being fed more information these corporations want to feed us. The cycle continues. Our cell phone opens up the world to us, and also traps us in our own world at the same time.
Do you feel like your phone is constantly listening to you? I do. Because I could be talking about random stuff like trench coats for guys, five minutes later, a trench coat ad will show up on my browser. This happens so much, at first I thought it was because I searched for these products before, but it also happens to products I’ve never googled before. So can we say cell phones are invented to control the mass? To make people dumb and to think less? To monitor people’s every activity? Like big brother in 1984?
Smartphones, like all other innovation in the human history, can be a tool to help us take control of our lives, or enable people in power to control our minds, depending on how conscious we are about the downside of this piece of technology. I am filled with worries for humanity when looking at young people these days glued to their smartphones during social outings where they should be communicating with real people right in front of them instead of with the virtual world through their phones. Something needs to change, before we all turn into robots that are easily manipulated through information control.
The title of your post is what caught me, specifically because I had just engaged in this very same conversation with my co-workers a few days ago. Not surprisingly, the answer that everyone gave, including me, was “no.” Some individuals justified this answer because their smartphone was so intertwined with their daily activities, similar to the activities that you had mentioned (i.e. alarm clock, e-mails, podcasts). Other individuals justified this answer because other people expect that they are easily accessible or readily respond to inquiries. For example, I have been in one or two situations where someone will text me, then text me again to confirm I received the first message and then they will call, typically within a very short span of time (i.e. 15-20 minutes). The question itself is typically mundane or of little importance, easily something that could have waited. However, smartphones seem to generate a sense of manufactured urgency and reduced overall patience.
Beyond this, smartphones have led to negative effects such as interference with sleep and lowered productivity (Lanaj, Johnson, & Barnes, 2014), enhanced risk for addictive behaviors (Van Deursen, Bolle, Hegner, & Kommers, 2015), decreased self-regulation of emotion (Van Deursen et al., 2015) and higher levels of perceived stress (Samaha & Hawi, 2016). In other words, smartphones do connect us to one another. They also provide instant access to mostly anything that we could need (i.e. shopping, chatting, videos, music and games). However, they can also lead to consequences if they are not used in the best or most appropriate ways. For that reason, smartphones can be very beneficial to society, but we need to be careful with how we use them.
The reality is, the focus of a smartphone needs to shift from that of a “toy” to that of a “tool.” People need to start communicating again. All too often I see a group of individuals texting each other versus speaking to one another. While I understand that there may be a private conversation that needs to be had, then those individuals should excuse themselves to have the conversation. For me, I actually find it quite rude when people do this because it seems to be a type of attention getting behavior. On one hand, the conversation needs to stay private so as to not upset someone in close proximity; however, people can clearly see what is going on, thus they get annoyed or irritated. As such, the same result is actually occurring, just via different means. Worse yet, there are some people that are unable to hold a coherent and steady conversation, due to what I call “text lingo.” People have actually said to me that they will “B-R-B” or they will verbalize “S-M-H.” Do I understand what they are saying? Yes. Do I think it is necessary to abbreviate three words of a normal conversation? No. I am all about efficiency and productivity, but there comes a point when you have to wonder when something stops being efficient and starts getting ridiculous. In short, can I live without my smartphone? As much as it would sometimes be nice, we live in a society where it is extremely difficult to actually do so.
References
Lanaj, K., Johnson, R. E., & Barnes, C. M. (2014). Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124(1), 11-23. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.01.001
Samaha, M., & Hawi, N. S. (2016). Relationships among smartphone addiction, stress, academic performance, and satisfaction with life. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 321-325. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.045
Van Deursen, A. J., Bolle, C. L., Hegner, S. M., & Kommers, P. A. (2015). Modeling habitual and addictive smartphone behavior: The role of smartphone usage types, emotional intelligence, social stress, self-regulation, age, and gender. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 411-420. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.039