Post by jeffolie on Apr 6, 2013 13:03:27 GMT -6
Smartphone addiction is a serious matter
04/05/2013
You know you are addicted to your smartphone if you leave it behind ... and are gripped with anxiety. A few months ago, I speed-walked out of the Daily Breeze newsroom, hopped into my old Corolla and drove off to conduct an interview.
However, within about a minute, I was gripped by a surge of anxiety.
No, I wasn't going to see the dentist.
Rather, I had realized that my cellphone was on my desk at work instead of in my pocket.
I didn't know what to do. Should I turn back to get my cellphone even if it means I'll be late to my appointment?
I ended up making my appointment sans my precious phone.
Lately, I have been reminded of that moment of separation anxiety from my phone. At the two restaurants my family owns, we have been trying to get our employees to stop constantly checking their cellphones during work hours. It is unprofessional and disruptive, plus it just looks bad in front of the customers.
But we are battling something much more powerful than lax employee work habits: The smartphone is an addiction.
Just go to a public place and watch the people around you constantly peering at their phones, sometimes ignoring their family or friends around them in favor of whatever they get from that handheld rectangular metal box.
Text messages, sports score updates, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds (that one's my weaknesses) and Web surfing. And I haven't even mentioned actually using the phone to call someone. We are so connected to the information as well as friends and strangers reaching us through our phones that suddenly losing that connection can be jarring to many people, including me.
Even when that connection is slow, it can be unsettling. For example, if I call or text my wife and don't get a reply within a few minutes, I start to worry.
That day when I drove off without my phone, all these awful scenarios bounced around my head. What if a major news event occurs and I don't know about it for an entire hour? What if my wife calls about a family emergency? What if something happens to one of our kids?
What if this and what if that.
I did my interview and returned to the office about 90 minutes later. I missed absolutely nothing.
That doesn't mean that the next time I forget my phone I won't freak out again. Almost everyone I know has the same addiction to being connected to the world. And, in this case, the "world" means whatever you can get through your smartphone.
So getting our restaurant employees to stop checking their phones when they should be working may be too ambitious. Maybe they can't help themselves.
Our relationship with phones and other machines makes up a serious body of scholarship and philosophy. One segment of that research looks at the possibility of machines some day taking over the world, perhaps a la "The Terminator" movies.
I have bad news: We are headed there quicker than you might think.
www.presstelegram.com/business/ci_22957182/smartphone-addiction-is-serious-matter
04/05/2013
You know you are addicted to your smartphone if you leave it behind ... and are gripped with anxiety. A few months ago, I speed-walked out of the Daily Breeze newsroom, hopped into my old Corolla and drove off to conduct an interview.
However, within about a minute, I was gripped by a surge of anxiety.
No, I wasn't going to see the dentist.
Rather, I had realized that my cellphone was on my desk at work instead of in my pocket.
I didn't know what to do. Should I turn back to get my cellphone even if it means I'll be late to my appointment?
I ended up making my appointment sans my precious phone.
Lately, I have been reminded of that moment of separation anxiety from my phone. At the two restaurants my family owns, we have been trying to get our employees to stop constantly checking their cellphones during work hours. It is unprofessional and disruptive, plus it just looks bad in front of the customers.
But we are battling something much more powerful than lax employee work habits: The smartphone is an addiction.
Just go to a public place and watch the people around you constantly peering at their phones, sometimes ignoring their family or friends around them in favor of whatever they get from that handheld rectangular metal box.
Text messages, sports score updates, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds (that one's my weaknesses) and Web surfing. And I haven't even mentioned actually using the phone to call someone. We are so connected to the information as well as friends and strangers reaching us through our phones that suddenly losing that connection can be jarring to many people, including me.
Even when that connection is slow, it can be unsettling. For example, if I call or text my wife and don't get a reply within a few minutes, I start to worry.
That day when I drove off without my phone, all these awful scenarios bounced around my head. What if a major news event occurs and I don't know about it for an entire hour? What if my wife calls about a family emergency? What if something happens to one of our kids?
What if this and what if that.
I did my interview and returned to the office about 90 minutes later. I missed absolutely nothing.
That doesn't mean that the next time I forget my phone I won't freak out again. Almost everyone I know has the same addiction to being connected to the world. And, in this case, the "world" means whatever you can get through your smartphone.
So getting our restaurant employees to stop checking their phones when they should be working may be too ambitious. Maybe they can't help themselves.
Our relationship with phones and other machines makes up a serious body of scholarship and philosophy. One segment of that research looks at the possibility of machines some day taking over the world, perhaps a la "The Terminator" movies.
I have bad news: We are headed there quicker than you might think.
www.presstelegram.com/business/ci_22957182/smartphone-addiction-is-serious-matter