Who's Really Addicting You To Technology?
“Nearly everyone I know is addicted in some measure to the Internet”, wrote Tony Schwartz in The New York Times. It's a common complaint these days. A steady stream of similar headlines accuses the Net and its offspring apps, social media sites and online games of addicting us to distraction.
There's little doubt that nearly everyone who comes in contact with the Net has difficulty disconnecting. Then who's at fault for its overuse? To find solutions, it's important to understand what we're dealing with. There are four parties cooperating to keep you connected: the tech, your boss, your friends and you.
The technologies themselves and their makers are the easiest suspects to blame for our distraction. Online services like Facebook, Google, twitter and the like rely on advertising revenue, so the more frequently you use them, the more money they make. No wonder these companies employ teams of people focused on improving their services to be as attractive as possible.
Good as these services are, there are simple steps we can take to keep them from coming too close. However, less than 15 percent of smartphone users are willing to adjust their notification settings meaning the remaining 85 percent of us default to (默认)the app makers' every preset devices.
While companies like Facebook harvest attention to generate revenue from advertisers, other technologies have no such agenda. Take email, for example. We check email at all hours of the day we're obsessed, because that's what the boss wants. For almost all white-collar jobs, email is the primary tool of corporate communication. A slow response to a message could hurt not only your reputation but also your livelihood.
Your friends are also responsible for the addiction. Think about this familiar scene. People gathered around a table, enjoying food and each others' company. Then, during an interval in the conversation, someone takes out their phone to check who knows what. Barely anyone notices and no one says a thing.
The reality is taking one's phone out at the wrong time is more than an impolite behavior because, unlike other minor offense, checking tech is contagious (传染). Once one person looks at their phone, other people tend to do the same, starting a chain reaction.
Hie technology, your boss, and your friends, all influence how often you find yourself using (or overusing) these gadgets. But there's still someone who deserves careful examination the person holding the phone.
When people are doing something difficult they'd rather not do, the phone is used to transport them elsewhere. They can easily escape discomfort temporarily, by answering email or browsing the web under the excuse of so-called “research”. The truth is that we are working unproductively out of our bad habits.
Personal technology is indeed more attractive than ever, which doesn't mean we shouldn't attempt to control our use of technology, instead, we should come to terms with the fact that it's more than the technology that's responsible for our habits. Our workplace culture, social norms and individual behaviors all play a part.
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Who's Really Addicting You To Technology? |
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A common phenomenon |
More and more people are getting addicted to some to the Internet nowadays. Those who have difficulty disconnecting often lay on the Net and its offspring apps. |
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Four suspects |
The technologies |
Some online services like Facebook are designed attractively for reasons. Most people won't to make any adjustment to the preset devices. |
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Your boss |
Emails are widely used for communication in many companies. White-collar employees check emails hourly as a delayed response may them reputation and livelihood. |
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Your friends |
A check on the phone is often taken for though it's sometimes impolite with friends around. One tends to suit when seeing; his friends surfing on the phone. |
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You (The users) |
Technologies can be used as a good excuse to ourselves from something boring or challenging. Some had habits as well as technologies give to our distraction. |
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Conclusion |
Technology is not the root of the problem with our addition, as many other factors also play a part. |
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