Following up on this hot issue, Ted Gioia has some suggestions to get out of the habit:
My dopamine culture essay is still stirring up lots of discussion. And people have their own stories to share.
For example:
And also:
The same thing is happening everywhere — at concerts, at museums, at work, at church, while driving, or even at a funeral.
But it’s even worse when people don’t even try to multitask, instead abandoning essential life tasks—because of the compulsion to scroll.
I’ve now heard from
- People who scroll instead of sleeping
- People who scroll instead of engaging in physical activity
- People who scroll instead of finding a life partner, or connecting with flesh-and-blood people
- People who scroll instead of gaining skills, finding a job, and pursuing a vocation
- Etc.
I originally focused on the impact on arts and creativity—because that’s the world I live in. I was worried that people had no patience for a movie or concert or book, because they can only digest stimuli in 15-second bursts.
But I now see that the problem is much, much bigger.
It’s almost quaint to worry about these screen zombies not reading books. The simple fact is that, increasingly, their entire life is suffering because of a technology shift imposed on them by Silicon Valley.
These addictive and compulsive behaviors are troubling. But even more disturbing is how the largest corporations in the world are investing billions in promoting and accelerating this compulsive use of their tech tools.
If you look at the 10 largest companies in the world, half of them are trying to create this addictive relationship to technology. The days when the dealer in addiction had to hide in the shadows are over. They now operate freely in your home, and every other sphere of your life.
A few days ago, I promised to offer concrete suggestions for dealing with this. Some of these are listed below.
My last job was pushing broom on the swing shift at an elementary school. First rooms on the run were the kindergartens because they got out early. I remember walking into one of the K’s just after the kids left. One of the young mothers was staying after to help the teacher with something or other. I watched the woman sit her three year old at one of the tables, and flick on some children’s game on the phone. The toddler sat there silent and transfixed. He alrady knew how to manipulate the character in the game to score points. I could hear the little dweedly beeps, and chimes charging up the dopamine while adding up the point count.
Flash to this morning. I took the bike out for my fifteen mile pedal on the bike path. Schools must be in Spring Break, as there were lots of kids on the trail. Almost every kid I saw today, and all the adults as well were shuffling along like zombies, eyes locked on the screen. I saw three early teen girls walking along elbow to elbow. They walked silently as they were all locked into the screen, and oblivious to their live action friends. They may as well have been alone. Folks standing at crosswalks glance up between swipes just enough to keep track of the green light walk sign, and cross the crosswalk locked into the screen. Forget looking both ways.
Flash back to that three year old. Kid will be strung out on that shit two years befor hitting kindergaten. What’s his future? Hate to be so cynical, but I’m glad I won’t be here to see it.
JWM
Comment by jwm — March 6, 2024 @ 21:02
I keep wondering how the shambling smartphone zombies manage not to get themselves killed far more often than they already do. Back when the first Walkman devices started to become trendy, I saw a few would-be Darwin situations averted by non-Walkman-wearing pedestrians. Now that it’s fully immersive video rather than just audio, it’s kind of amazing that it’s not an every day occurrence.
Comment by Nicholas — March 6, 2024 @ 22:15