From nearly fifty-five hundred years ago to now, mankind has displayed their thoughts, ideas, wisdom, and commentary through written language. Literature plays a vital role in the introductions of new principles and beliefs into all cultures and -- even today -- still changes the direction of governments, religion, schooling, and society as a whole. Whether you’re familiar with the modern world of technology or not, you undoubtedly must agree that phones and tablets have taken over the lives of billions around the planet. Much of our literature and, thus, attention, has transferred from text to e-text. As you peruse the streets of New York, you will see for yourself: hundreds of thousands of citizens turned netizens. As a more liberal-minded individual, I found myself sticking to reasons to keep these devices near my side; however, a TedTalk spoken by Adam Alter concentrating on the afflictions of technology forever changed my mindset. As Alter describes the harms surrounding these electronics, I took his findings to heart, and I have been altering my lifestyle to benefit my physical and mental health. Ultimately, who wants to be an addict to electronics, forever chained to the network that is the cloud?
In his TedTalk, Alter details 2010 as a revolutionary year. After all, this was the year that Steve Jobs released the iPad. During his announcement speech, Jobs described the new product as an “extraordinary device,” which would give one “the best web experience you’ve ever had. Way better than a laptop, way better than a phone.” As Alter would soon find out, Jobs, despite his strong words of encouragement for the iPad, never even allowed his own kids to use the device. In fact, according to an interview from New York Times, Jobs clarifies, “They haven’t used [iPads]. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” It could be understood that many Silicon Valley tech producers are aware that these devices are addicting, and therefore didn’t want their kids to be too attached to technology. After further research, Alter emphasized that hundreds of other Silicon Valley tech company executives also ironically limited screen time for their children, even sending their children to specialized schools dedicated to limiting technological usage. This specific fact made me question my own attachment to our advancing tech-based society. If hundreds of these high-level individuals, VIPs, and mechanical geniuses are against the employment of electronics in their children’s lives, should we -- the general public, the working class, and the ordinary people of society -- be concerned for our own health and benefit? There must lie a reason, a dangerous reason, that these tech giants would not even want their families to be exposed to the world of today.
Through the presentation, Alter gave various reasons detailing the detrimental impacts of technology in everyday life. From having only 30 minutes of leisure aside from screens and work to bottomless feeds on social media to spending the majority of our screen time on apps that make us unhappy, screens are making our lives harder to live by the day. We fail to realize that “the news feed just rolls on, and everything’s bottomless,” so time flies as we continue scrolling. Frighteningly, we do not even recognize this as the problem. Alter takes note of this by mentioning, “We’re spending three times longer on the apps that don’t make us happy. That doesn’t seem very wise.” Who would have thought that news, dating, and entertainment apps would unknowingly make us depressed? It seems paradoxical. After finishing the presentation, I realized that I was already at a low point in my life: my grades were slipping, I was becoming more distant with family, and my mood was becoming annoyed. I took Alter’s words to heart and I downloaded Moment, an app that tracks screen time through the day. This app, according to Alter, had a psychological benefit besides tracking time, as it was made to keep people aware of how much time they were using up out of the little free time they had in a day. It works similarly to reading calories before eating, let’s say, a burrito. You tend to eat less if you know how much you will be consuming. I was ready to make a positive change to my life, which began with a drastic shift in what I depended on most -- my phone.
The first few days of my lifestyle change was filled with jitters, nervous fits, and the fear of missing out. I immediately realized what these symptoms were: they were signs of addiction. I would begin to distance myself from my device more often, shutting off push notifications, disabling messages, and leaving it far from me when I sleep. Like Alter, I kept my phone far away, “because we’re really bad at resisting temptation, but when you have a stopping cue...you avoid temptation all together.” I began to live life more freely, cooking with family instead of browsing Reddit, singing with friends on road trips rather than texting someone on messenger, and learning the guitar over gaming daily with friends. Over this period, I did lose a significant part of my old life; however, it was for the better. After only a month, I knew that Alter was right when he said, “You overcome the withdrawal the same way you would from a drug, and what happens is, life becomes more colorful, richer, more interesting…” I noticed my grades were climbing considerably, I kindled new friendships with people I met when going out, I slept substantially better, and life around me seemed so bright and cheerful. Near the 30th day, I had only around fifteen minutes on my phone (all spent on calls to family and news websites), a massive decline from my standard four to eight hours.
Search up any live concert on YouTube. What you will see is an infinite sea of people, all with their phones in hand recording the artist. People, with their devices, do not take the time anymore to live life as is, to enjoy every moment, to cherish these particular thoughts in their hearts. Instead, they live on the highway of life, never letting go of the gas pedal, never thinking twice about the landscape they just drove past. Alter has taught me a new aspect of life: “Your life will be richer and more meaningful because you breathe in that experience, and because you've left your phone in the car.” Even today, I try not to have more than thirty minutes on my phone. With my cellphone always by my side, I tended to live past meaningful events. I emotionally missed out on weddings, dinner parties, and traveling across the world. Following the healthy change -- just like Alter -- I have finally shifted gears, slowed down, and enjoyed the scenery that I have always driven past. And it is all because I decided not to turn on my device again today.
In his TedTalk, Alter details 2010 as a revolutionary year. After all, this was the year that Steve Jobs released the iPad. During his announcement speech, Jobs described the new product as an “extraordinary device,” which would give one “the best web experience you’ve ever had. Way better than a laptop, way better than a phone.” As Alter would soon find out, Jobs, despite his strong words of encouragement for the iPad, never even allowed his own kids to use the device. In fact, according to an interview from New York Times, Jobs clarifies, “They haven’t used [iPads]. We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” It could be understood that many Silicon Valley tech producers are aware that these devices are addicting, and therefore didn’t want their kids to be too attached to technology. After further research, Alter emphasized that hundreds of other Silicon Valley tech company executives also ironically limited screen time for their children, even sending their children to specialized schools dedicated to limiting technological usage. This specific fact made me question my own attachment to our advancing tech-based society. If hundreds of these high-level individuals, VIPs, and mechanical geniuses are against the employment of electronics in their children’s lives, should we -- the general public, the working class, and the ordinary people of society -- be concerned for our own health and benefit? There must lie a reason, a dangerous reason, that these tech giants would not even want their families to be exposed to the world of today.
Through the presentation, Alter gave various reasons detailing the detrimental impacts of technology in everyday life. From having only 30 minutes of leisure aside from screens and work to bottomless feeds on social media to spending the majority of our screen time on apps that make us unhappy, screens are making our lives harder to live by the day. We fail to realize that “the news feed just rolls on, and everything’s bottomless,” so time flies as we continue scrolling. Frighteningly, we do not even recognize this as the problem. Alter takes note of this by mentioning, “We’re spending three times longer on the apps that don’t make us happy. That doesn’t seem very wise.” Who would have thought that news, dating, and entertainment apps would unknowingly make us depressed? It seems paradoxical. After finishing the presentation, I realized that I was already at a low point in my life: my grades were slipping, I was becoming more distant with family, and my mood was becoming annoyed. I took Alter’s words to heart and I downloaded Moment, an app that tracks screen time through the day. This app, according to Alter, had a psychological benefit besides tracking time, as it was made to keep people aware of how much time they were using up out of the little free time they had in a day. It works similarly to reading calories before eating, let’s say, a burrito. You tend to eat less if you know how much you will be consuming. I was ready to make a positive change to my life, which began with a drastic shift in what I depended on most -- my phone.
The first few days of my lifestyle change was filled with jitters, nervous fits, and the fear of missing out. I immediately realized what these symptoms were: they were signs of addiction. I would begin to distance myself from my device more often, shutting off push notifications, disabling messages, and leaving it far from me when I sleep. Like Alter, I kept my phone far away, “because we’re really bad at resisting temptation, but when you have a stopping cue...you avoid temptation all together.” I began to live life more freely, cooking with family instead of browsing Reddit, singing with friends on road trips rather than texting someone on messenger, and learning the guitar over gaming daily with friends. Over this period, I did lose a significant part of my old life; however, it was for the better. After only a month, I knew that Alter was right when he said, “You overcome the withdrawal the same way you would from a drug, and what happens is, life becomes more colorful, richer, more interesting…” I noticed my grades were climbing considerably, I kindled new friendships with people I met when going out, I slept substantially better, and life around me seemed so bright and cheerful. Near the 30th day, I had only around fifteen minutes on my phone (all spent on calls to family and news websites), a massive decline from my standard four to eight hours.
Search up any live concert on YouTube. What you will see is an infinite sea of people, all with their phones in hand recording the artist. People, with their devices, do not take the time anymore to live life as is, to enjoy every moment, to cherish these particular thoughts in their hearts. Instead, they live on the highway of life, never letting go of the gas pedal, never thinking twice about the landscape they just drove past. Alter has taught me a new aspect of life: “Your life will be richer and more meaningful because you breathe in that experience, and because you've left your phone in the car.” Even today, I try not to have more than thirty minutes on my phone. With my cellphone always by my side, I tended to live past meaningful events. I emotionally missed out on weddings, dinner parties, and traveling across the world. Following the healthy change -- just like Alter -- I have finally shifted gears, slowed down, and enjoyed the scenery that I have always driven past. And it is all because I decided not to turn on my device again today.