If you, like me, sometimes find yourself wondering why you
have become so attached to your smartphone, you may be just as clueless as I.
Okay, but seriously, are we really that clueless? Take a minute and think about
the many conveniences that your smartphone provides. It supplies you with
virtually endless amounts of information, entertainment, social connectivity,
and much more.
The current generation is often referred to as the
“Information Age”. This is largely due to our ability to access the World Wide
Web. Knowledge can now be shared, instantly, with the click of a button. And we
can access this information in the palm of our hand. As technology progresses,
people seem to become more and more impatient. Why should anyone have to wait
for anything? We have gotten so used to having instant access to virtually
anything (that can be digitized), that we have forgotten what it was like to
live without it.
I’m not inferring this is good or bad, but I think we should
be aware of the effects that smartphones have on us. Not everyone is the same.
Not everyone has fallen under the spell of smartphone madness. But some of us,
me included, find ourselves constantly depending on our handheld devices.
My smartphone lives with me. Wherever I go, my smartphone
follows. Whenever I forget my cell phone, I feel restless. When I say it like
this, I make myself sound like someone suffering withdrawals from an addictive
substance. I wouldn’t quite place my dependency on my smartphone in the same
category as an addictive substance, but I recognize that it is an object of
dependency.
It may be my personal opinion, but I don’t believe any
material dependency is ever a positive thing. Okay, so maybe that is an overstatement.
What I mean is that it is unhealthy to allow material things to have power over
us.
So, how smart is your smartphone? Is it smart enough to
control you? Maybe, but maybe not. I stumbled upon this video on YouTube a few
weeks ago. I thought it was beautifully done. Whether or not it is relevant to
you, it is worth a watch.
If you have any thoughts or comments, I would love to receive
feedback on this subject!
God bless, Kellen
I like to think that my dependency on my smartphone comes mostly out of it's usefulness. With apps like Google Maps and a calculator and a flashlight and a camera, it's an all-in-one tool that can save your butt if you find yourself needing one of those things. On top of that, of course, is access to everyone you know and everything you could possibly want to know (and then some) at your fingertips.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is bad for an object to have power over you, and when social interactions turn into everyone sitting around on their phones, we're obviously losing something. However, these are extremely useful tools that aren't to be just left at home. Like everything, there is a happy medium, the hard part is finding it.