William Powers and Katie Couric
make very accurate points while discussing Powers’s book, Hamlets Blackberry.
This book was written to enlighten people about how connected and dependent we
are on technology. Powers explains the type of impact this has on us and
elaborates about what he and his family are doing about it. Although I love my MacBook, my iPhone, my
iPod and all of my other technological devices, I still do believe that we are
very “plugged in” society.
In the
beginning of the interview, Powers states “We have adopted this approach that
the more connected we are, the better”. This theory is very true-we do believe
this in our world today. It usually is a shock to other people if an individual
doesn’t have a cell phone, a Facebook, a twitter, etc. He even compares our
attachment in a metaphor to sugar. He says that when we actually see the red
light on our phone, alarming us that we have a notification, that there is
actually a squirt of dopamine that is sent from our brain-just like if we were
to see a cookie.
Another
point he makes is how it is impairing our ability to focus. It takes time from
our attention span to go from our cell phone to a conversation-back to that
text message, etc. He believes that it “prohibits deep thinking”. According to an article in the New York Times, scientists say that dealing with all different media sources at one time (e-mails, text messages, tweets) affects they way we behave because all of the incoming sources of information (Ritchel). I completely agree with this statement because I know how
much a text message can completely mess up my studying for an exam. One text
can send my mind in a hundred different directions, distracting me from what I
really should be focusing on. Powers even says “I found that all of my original
thoughts were going away” [from using to much technology]. When he started to
get too attached to groups online-he became a victim of groupthink.
Katie brings up the theme of self esteem- are we now in the age where we have to “Google”
ourselves to see if we matter? Powers
responds with “People have always been looking outward, but now we have it all
in our hands”. This is such a great observation because our phones are with us
all the time and are linked to our friends in so many ways. For the people who
look outward for acceptance may depend on the amount of comments they get on
Facebook, or the amount of texts they receive in a day-which is attached to us
constantly. I do agree with Katie when she says that these texts, phone calls
and comments will have an affect on our communication with others because we
are missing body language and eye contact. This is something that I agree with
because it a crucial part of the way we associate with others. According to an article by Barbara Wheeler called "Texting Affects Communication Skills", children say things over texting that they would never say face to face (Wheeler). Therefore, you could never
know someone completely over the phone or via email, because you are missing
the majority of the communication. Words can only speak so much.
Speaking on
a personal level, I studied abroad and actually went with out my cell phone for
four months. I can’t explain how nice it was too be “unplugged” for such a long
period of time. It was so refreshing. I felt like I got to enjoy scenery and
nature more than I have ever before. So, overall I do agree with William Powers
and his theories about our physical and emotional connections with technology.
I also truly condemn him for going weekends with out technology-I think it is very healthy. As much as I love the advances in our world, and having everything be a click away, I sometimes do wonder what it would be like if we didn't have all of this media and technology thrown in our face. Would I have better relationships with people? Would I enjoy nature more? There is no way to really know, considering technology has played a huge role in my life for such a long time. However, I
also do believe that this is a digital age, and it is time to adopt it and
accept it-because there is no turning back.
