Why did the smart phone need therapy?
Lots of hang-ups left it disconnected.
Why did the smart phone get arrested?
It faced battery charges.
Why did the smart phone cross the road?
To avoid obsolescence. *’Right to repair’ is the only joke here.
Without your smart phone, where would you be? Does the thought terrify you? Are you afraid of yourself? Are smart phones actually smart? Do smart phones make us smarter? Or does the presence of smart phones make us less so? Do these devices make us more capable or unnecessarily occupy the massive segment of humanity thus enamoured in trivialities?
Smart phones are ubiquitous, but does the ubiquity benefit people generally and individually or are these machines a source of unnecessary distractions and frustration, disconnecting people from lived reality? Most people are unaware they have any options in terms of phones, and that they must have a smart phone in order to stay with the times and basically be employable. This is simply not true for the majority of people, however, and many ‘regular’ or ‘non-smart’ phone options remain available at the present moment. If a job requires a smart phone at work, then it should be provided.
MODERATION VERSUS DISTRACTION
My phenomenology, Resurrexit Spiritus, suggests meaning in life can best be discovered by seeking after moderation, so as to maximise elevational motivation through the psychomenal activity of erosic judgements (Roe 2023). Psychomenal activity is essential to advancement according to Structural Virtues Theory. Erosic judgements are limited by constant distractions as represented in smart phones, television, and various forms of consumer media. Giving up on smart phones, then, is part of a larger overarching plan of limiting distractions from moderation. If moderation is the goal, a constant distraction should be presumed as an extreme for most people.
PRODUCTIVITY
Computers, in the form of workstations, laptops, and tablets, are already multipurpose enough to negate the value of a powerful tiny cancer generator in the pocket. The actual function of such a conglomeration and centralisation of purposes in a singular device with high processing power ultimately serves intelligence organisations, controlling governments, and snooping corporations more than anybody else. A computer or tablet will provide substantially improved productivity in comparison, whereas most modern ‘regular phones’ can provide a mobile access point (WiFi) for the more productive devices. However even computers and tablets can be used in distracting ways. Time is more valuable than a smart phone, and disowning smart phones is a way of taking back your time and energies.
ADDICTION
Smart phones are especially designed to be addictive, using algorithms shaped by scientific comprehensions of human behavioural patterns. As you sit there with the smart phone and look at the feed of new posts, imagine diodes connected to you. How would Zuckerberg’s or Elon’s engineering teams interpret the data they might receive from those diodes? It is much easier to get lost in the all too familiar practice of constantly drifting between apps, seeking after the next thrill: that dopamine drip fix ever important to addiction engineers.
Without focus, not much productivity can occur. Without erosic judgement, meaningful connections will not form and internal development will not progress. Social media platforms and many games are designed to alter perceptions and complicate assessing our best interests and those of others accurately. If you did so accurately, you would not spend so much time on the platforms. Very little in electronic media will align with reality and reasonable purposes for the individual within actual community.
HUMAN CONDITION
Being constantly bombarded by notifications or haunted by the lack of them are states of being debilitating to the human condition. What is the point of the digital life if the actual life it is supposed to reflect pales in comparison? Social media and games present an opportunity to practise our self-control in finding moderation. Surely these things have their purposes but it is important for every person to honestly ask themselves how much is actually necessary to their personal fulfilment in life. The purpose of technology should be to improve the human lived experience. If a technology limits experience, then it is not worthy. The most important element in all of this is the human being, and not just the individual as a factor. Culture and experience permeate upbringing, the coalescence of personality, and all roles taken up or refused within society by the individual. Use of smart phones cut off moments from their place and potential social exchanges in reality. This alienation from self and society causes loss of definition in communion of peer and inter-generational culture. There is less cultural transference, and, therefore less commonality..
BOUNDARIES AND REMEDIATION
Setting boundaries is an essential part of being a healthy and complete human being. It is too often the case that people know how to set and follow boundaries in relationships, though fail when it comes to distractive media. This in itself limits the degree of success potential with any relationship. The biggest problems with computer technology come from the replacement of in-person social interactions with irrelevant or fictional proxies. It is important to recognise all the ways that technology impairs human life in order to remediate the causes. Smart phones occupy a particularly useless category of technology since these devices do almost nothing better than computers. The few things smart phones can do better than computers are as easily accomplished, and with fewer distractions, with ‘regular phones.’
CONNECTIONS
Cutting out the smart phone lifestyle helps a person connect more fully with their environment and community directly. The social media can wait until you are near your tablet or computer, perhaps it can wait for a specific time of the day or simply less often. Dumb phones are perfectly capable of connecting you to emergency services, family, or friends, if you need them. It is reasonable to limit electronic and screen interactions. Not only are smart phones wasteful of time but also especially expensive relative to their power and size. Reserving electronics usage to computer technologies with track records for creative and effective output assures greater productivity.
SUMMARY
It is very easy for human beings to become distracted. This has become increasingly the case with the ubiquity of addictive and distractive technologies. These technologies are not going to change unless there is impressive demand demonstrated to manufacturers and software developers. Nobody trusts products that teach people to be less productive or which are designed to distract and cause addiction. It is quite plain to see that the current scenario cannot continue, and one will be part of changing things if capable of putting the phone down, or even losing it entirely.
REFERENCES
Roe, M. A. (2023). Resurrexit Spiritus: Spiritual Phenomenology, Evolution of Spirit, First Other Theory of Fatherhood Attachment, and Structural Virtues System. 24K Journal of Virtues Science, s1i0.