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Smartphones are not the source of all social ills | Henry Oliver
Present-mindedness is our biggest danger. Forget all the handwringing about our social habits; I doubt technology is turning us into much bigger narcissists than we already were. And politically, tech has had many wonderful effects—particularly when long-ignored voices have learned how to connect and persuade online
Clive Thompson • Social media is keeping us stuck in the moment
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Yet, smartphones are much more than an accumulation of improvements in hardware and software into a pocket-sized device that we spend too much time looking at. They represent something entirely new. When we pick up our phones, our taps and swipes engage not only a system of hardware and software, but also something much bigger—a set of institutions
... See moreNicole Aschoff • The Smartphone Society
Andreas Vlach added
Maybe all the talking about the bad influence of smartphones and social media having a bad influence on young people is heavily exaggerated - and just an excuse to not bother much about making their living and learning conditions better, and caring more about the future world they gonna have to live in
Andreas Vlach added
The curmudgeons among us are vaguely uneasy about the attention people pay to their phones, and pine for the days of unhurried concentration, while the digital hipsters equate such nostalgia with Luddism and boredom, and believe that increased connection is the foundation for a utopian
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Whether or not our collective attention spans are shrinking is up for debate, as is the notion that this is destructive to our minds and relationships. What doesn't appear to be up for debate is that the crux of this issue lies in our relationship with technology, particularly networking technologies.
Laura Pike Seeley Follow @lpikeseeley • Deep Work and the Digital Workplace
Laura Pike Seeley added
We think social media has changed childhood and adolescence for the worse, so much so that it constitutes a “great rewiring of childhood.” Beginning in the 1990s, a childhood based heavily on outdoor play began to fade away and was replaced by a phone-based childhood in the early 2010s, when teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones.
Can we
... See moreEli George • Do the Kids Think They’re Alright?
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We should not, in other words, imagine that the ability to focus intently or to give one’s sustained attention to some matter was the ordinary state of affairs before the arrival of digital technologies or even television beforehand. But this does not mean that new technologies are of no consequence.
theconvivialsociety.substack.com • Attending to the World
Alex Wittenberg added
If technology is good, then why do so many algorithms seem to leave us feeling depressed and isolated? Can a video call really replace the full-bodied magic of spending time with someone we love? What’s the difference between a childhood spent playing outside in the fresh air and amongst the trees, and another spent on an iPad levelling up FarmVill... See more
Phoebe Tickell • New Deep Narratives: We Need New Stories of What It Means to Be Human
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