Maggie is extremely motivated when heading into finals week. She has planned to study a minimum of eight hours daily, the week prior to all of her exams. However, instead of joining a study group with her friends, Maggie decides to study alone and utilize her technological tools. As time ticks away, Maggie becomes distracted from her online tools by emails from her boss, Instagram notifications, and pictures of her best friend’s new dog on Facebook. Without even realizing it, Maggie wastes away hours of her time online. What was supposed be her most beneficial tool now becomes her biggest downfall. Maggie’s hypothetical situation illustrates a growing problem in modern society. Although today’s tools like the Internet and iPhones provide a
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This acceptance of technology overload is rarely, if ever, frowned upon and consequently, society fails to recognize the disruption of excess technology forced upon today’s modern world. In his essay, “Smartphone Addiction. The Personal Slot Machine in Your Pocket”, Tristan Harris compares an iPhone and a slot machine to illustrate society’s addiction and problematic involvement with today’s digital tools. Smartphones possess the similar addictive qualities of a slot machine. Just as slot machine users continuously pull the lever to await their winnings, Harris points out that iPhone users are constantly “playing a slot machine to see what notifications [they] have received...what photo comes next…what email [they] got” (2). Notifications are convenient and keep technology users up to date on upcoming events. Although these notifications of information are significant sources of connection and useful knowledge builders, they distract users from completing important tasks and remaining attentive. Nicholas Carr, Author of “Is Google making Us Stupid?”, maintains the idea that digital content and media “scatters our attention and diffuses our concentration” (321). Bombarding emails, social media, and calendar notifications overconsume a user’s time and leave them less focused on important work. In “What Happened …show more content…
84% of people surveyed admitted they could not surrender their phones, even for a day (Grothaus 2). Technology sources like iPhones are no longer defined as tools, but necessities for success and efficiency. Without his phone, Grothaus “worried his work would suffer” (5), and glued himself to his work computer, “lest [he] miss some big news when…out” (5). Grothaus believed his only source for fresh material was the Internet. Although stories are instantly obtained through the web, there are other means of gathering breaking news. Grothaus was so distracted by the loss his digital tool that he forgot about the most important tool, his brain. As author of “Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better.”, Clive Thompson writes: “One of the great challenges of today’s digital thinking tools is knowing when not to use them, when to rely on the powers of older and slower technologies” (355). Instead of relying on the slower, yet still advanced, technology of his personal journalism skills, Grothaus fell under the spell that he needed technology to achieve high quality work. In other words, the seemingly more efficient thinking tool of technology manipulates and diminishes its user’s self-efficiency and
This acceptance of technology overload is rarely, if ever, frowned upon and consequently, society fails to recognize the disruption of excess technology forced upon today’s modern world. In his essay, “Smartphone Addiction. The Personal Slot Machine in Your Pocket”, Tristan Harris compares an iPhone and a slot machine to illustrate society’s addiction and problematic involvement with today’s digital tools. Smartphones possess the similar addictive qualities of a slot machine. Just as slot machine users continuously pull the lever to await their winnings, Harris points out that iPhone users are constantly “playing a slot machine to see what notifications [they] have received...what photo comes next…what email [they] got” (2). Notifications are convenient and keep technology users up to date on upcoming events. Although these notifications of information are significant sources of connection and useful knowledge builders, they distract users from completing important tasks and remaining attentive. Nicholas Carr, Author of “Is Google making Us Stupid?”, maintains the idea that digital content and media “scatters our attention and diffuses our concentration” (321). Bombarding emails, social media, and calendar notifications overconsume a user’s time and leave them less focused on important work. In “What Happened …show more content…
84% of people surveyed admitted they could not surrender their phones, even for a day (Grothaus 2). Technology sources like iPhones are no longer defined as tools, but necessities for success and efficiency. Without his phone, Grothaus “worried his work would suffer” (5), and glued himself to his work computer, “lest [he] miss some big news when…out” (5). Grothaus believed his only source for fresh material was the Internet. Although stories are instantly obtained through the web, there are other means of gathering breaking news. Grothaus was so distracted by the loss his digital tool that he forgot about the most important tool, his brain. As author of “Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better.”, Clive Thompson writes: “One of the great challenges of today’s digital thinking tools is knowing when not to use them, when to rely on the powers of older and slower technologies” (355). Instead of relying on the slower, yet still advanced, technology of his personal journalism skills, Grothaus fell under the spell that he needed technology to achieve high quality work. In other words, the seemingly more efficient thinking tool of technology manipulates and diminishes its user’s self-efficiency and