Number of Posts: 13
Posts 11 - 13
The five lessons I learned from breaking my smartphone
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 24.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | brain, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | After dropping her smartphone in the sink, the author lives without one for six weeks and discovers that she sleeps better without a smartphone, enjoys being unavailable, few things need to be tended to urgently, that she spends less money, and her memory suffers from having a smartphone. Studies have also confirmed that it is detrimental to one's sleep pattern to sleep next to a smartphone because notifications release dopamin in the brain similarly to a nicotine or recreational drug addiction. She values the time she now has to just not be available for messages from work because we tend to respond to any and all messages as if they were urgent when really they are not. The author reports to spend less money because she can no longer do online shopping on the go without a smartphone. She has also realized how dependent on Google she has become. Neurological studies confirm that our brains are adapting to the constant accessibility of all information by remembering how to find it and googling again if necessary rather than remembering the little snippets of information.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's hands holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone
Darian Leader: how technology is changing our hands
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 21.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction
Summary | Today's digital era is marked by the effects of new technologies. For instance, space and time do not have as clear boundaries as before, and relationships have changed too, whether it is a good or a bad thing. One of the ways in which new technologies impact us is related to the use of our hands. We use our hands and fingers for new movements, and as a consequence, more people suffer from hand problems now. We have always used our hands and kept them busy; they are a very important part of us. As some movies exemplify, our hands sometimes act without our will. The same thing happens with new technologies; it is almost as if we cannot help touching our digital devices. Hands are agents with power. When people are addicted to something (e.g. smartphone), they cannot control themselves.
Image Description | Series of five photographs: Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam", poster of the movie "The Hand", screenshot of Elsa from the movie "Frozen", keyboard with silhouette of a hand, screenshot of a scene of "The Hunger Games".
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)
Does quitting social media make you happier? Yes, say young people doing it
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 21.9.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, Facebook, social media, technology-free, youth
Summary | Interview with young people who decided to quit social media; they explain why. They mostly talk about deleting their Facebook account and how better they feel now. Some of them report feeling less depressed, happier, free, more productive, and enjoying meeting their friends face-to-face. Having a Facebook account was a lot of pressure for them; they didn't like the idea of having to report everything on the platform, to read articles they were not interested in, or to wait for other people's approval or "like".
Image Description | Series of three photographs: close up shot of hands holding smartphones, Snapchat icon, and Twitter app.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone, Snapchat, Twitter
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