Nice find!
Unfortunately, it’s only a book review snipping a random quote from one of the essays so it’s really hard to interpret what he was getting at without context.
I found the actual essay.
Thanks hajario.
From hajirio’s link, “Everyone insists that the technological transformation of the daily shape of our lives by new gadgets is enormous, while allowing that their emotional effect is more dubious, leaving us with emptier, or at best, unaltered souls. I think the truth is closer to the direct reverse. The emotional effect of new devices is overwhelming - they are like having new pets, new children, trailing with them an overwhelming attachment. But the transformational effect they have on our lives is actually, looked at squarely and without sentiment, quite minimal. After the introduction of a new device, or social media, our lives are exactly where they were before, save for the new thing or service, which we now cannot live without.”
yeah!
Now, that’s what I’m talking about! I figured there had to be more behind it.
So here’s the actual quote " Like so much modern media technology, it [his smartphone] creates a dependency without ever actually addressing a need."
If you read the preceding paragraphs, he is speaking about his own smart phone usage.
I don’t know how you figure that out; Gopnick is obviously generalising - not writing in the first person about his possessions.
Look, I (& he too) aren’t Luddites, there is no call for closing down the internet, what is being questioned is why the need for everyone to be available to everyone else 24/7. I’m pleased you are more in touch with your parents than you once were, but do you really need to do it from a number 47 bus?
An American university prof. I read, discovered that it isn’t unusual for some students to send as many as 200 text messages a day & there’s constant psychological pressure all the time to reply.
Like technology, it’s just a tool. I could use one to call the police to stop a crime in progress. I could use one to harass people by following them around and filming them. In general I’d say it’s a positive. You call people and not locations now. Of course, your boss knows that, if they’re the sort of boss who wants to call you at home.
This isn’t a harmful tool in itself. Even if people are getting addicted (“nomophobia”) that’s really an issue with app design (and capitalism, because you get more money out of addicts).
Of course smart phones provide an overwhelming advantage. Are they without problems? Of course not.
I guess my main complaint with smart phones and digital technology in general is that it tends to make all relationships and interactions “transactional”. Think of comparing marrying your high school sweetheart and staying together for the next 40 years vs using Tinder whenever you feel like a date. Or a lifelong career at a company that continues to grow and nurture your career vs having to work a long series of “gigs”.
I’m speaking as a person who has owned a cell phone, who has never owned a smartphone, and who currently owns neither.
Cell phones were an obviously useful invention with some direct benefits and some downsides. They added the ability to communicate from nearly everywhere, which is supremely beneficial in an emergency scenario. They also added the ability to be distracted while driving and killed people. Plus/minus. Still, probably a net benefit to humanity.
Smartphones of course are a completely different animal. They added…some benefits over traditional cell phones, I gather. The ability to google anything anywhere, with the effect of eroding human memory. The ability to play simplistic games anywhere, providing another way to deter boredom while funneling massive amounts of money to companies. The ability to send text messages more readily, facilitating the rise of social media, facilitating the downfall of traditional media and the rise of disinformation, leading to Trump and a worldwide rise of fascism.
Yeah, I’d say that smartphones are clearly a scourge upon humanity and a significant contributor to literally everything bad that’s happening in the world (through their effect on disinformation in politics). On the other hand you can now order a pizza while out shopping and pick it up on the way back. Plus/minus, I suppose.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Pretty handy then that it’s entirely in my control, no?
Makes me think of an old Punch cartoon, c. 1970, where a guy is wearing a t-shirt that reads “You’re destroying the art of conversation.”
???
Did you even read the essay, especially the paragraph that contains your cite? It is entirely in the first person!
Here’s a better quote from that essay.
For me, the internet was the major game changer (and very much a net positive). The smartphone was just an extension of that. It replaced the aftermarket GPS in my car and the regular cell phone.
Pun intended?
I hate smartphones and I still carry one, just because Google Maps is incredibly useful.
I tried buying a GPS device because I get lost easily, and buying a compass and a mapbook wasn’t really working. The device didn’t work in a bus because the bus’s roof was blocking the view to the satellites. This was specifically designed to work in cars (and not just convertibles). Then I noticed my sister using Google Maps, offline, while driving. A smartphone had the same cost if you get a pre-paid account.
I avoid most apps. I have less than six “optional” apps. No games, and hardly anyone ever calls me on that number. It’s basically for emergencies, not getting lost, and I use One Note as a note-taking app. I see no reason to use most forms of social media, and my Facebook usage is basically MSN messenger (which I can only use at home anyway, because I don’t have data).
But yes, I see many people using the smartphone like it’s a computer, only one you have available all the time. (And less functional. But they seem not to notice.)
I’ve on very rare occasions thought about getting a smartphone, specifically for emergencies and so I could order pizza while shopping. However aside from the cost, it would almost certainly spend all its time run out of power, left at home, and lost, all simultaneously. I’m talented that way.
begbert2: FWIW, they’re actually decent on battery duration. But, yeah, losing one is an expensive proposition, and leaving 'em behind does somewhat inhibit their utility (I’ve done both!)
Sparky812; A fair cop, I hadn’t read it through.
Could I live my life without my smartphone?
- Sure, it would be easy. But I wouldn’t be near as productive.
As a result of that increased productivity, do I also use my smartphone as a timewaster?
- Sure, but that’s my choice. I do not ever let it interfere with my relationship with my wife and children. When they need my attention, it gets put away.
Do I use my smartphone while I am riding the train, bus, or flying on a plane?
- Sure, I’d rather fill my time with being more productive or just satisfying my curiosity, than chatting with some stranger I have no interest in getting to know.
I would never even think of getting on a train, bus, or plane without bringing something to read; and smartphones haven’t changed that.