Lately, I can’t watch TV, log on to my laptop or read the news via my phone without seeing another article about the dangers of screen time. It seems the technology I acquired to make my life easier and more enjoyable is in fact wreaking havoc on my family, my productivity, my sleep and now, even my brain as a whole, as this article from the New York Times asserts:
“…people use phones and other electronic devices to get work done — and as a reliable antidote to boredom.
Cellphones, which in the last few years have become full-fledged computers with high-speed Internet connections, let people relieve the tedium of exercising, the grocery store line, stoplights or lulls in the dinner conversation.
The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.”
I don’t disagree, as I struggle to remember details like my office phone number on a daily basis. I’m not sure if my penchant for amusing myself with apps like Facebook and NPR News is to blame, but I’m willing to admit I’m pretty darn dependent on my phone. How am I supposed to make due without the device that keeps me so connected?
Thing is, it’s quite possible it keeps me connected to the wrong thing. It’s not the reported effect on my brain or on my ability to fall asleep at night that bugs me the most when I hear warnings about screen time—it’s that my kids want to take their Hello Kitty play phone to the park.
I do try to leave my phone in my bag when I get home at night, and I never (okay, rarely) answer texts during dinner. But, in a world of immediate access to so many forms of communication, there’s an implied rule that response should also be immediate. When I leave email unattended for any length of time, my anxiety creeps up.
But really, what’s THAT important?
Working in PR affords me a convenient excuse to have my phone constantly at hand in case I receive a reporter call. And you know what? That happened today. A Sunday. At 1 pm. The reporter—from the student newspaper—was calling on a deadline, wondering if I could possibly do an on camera interview this afternoon. (Um, no.) So, really, that probably could have waited another 16 hours or so.
If work can wait—which before iPhones and Blackberries, it most certainly did—why is there this need for constant connectivity? And why do we choose that over added brainpower, sleep-filled nights and family relationships?
The real question then becomes, how do you cut yourself off?
No, seriously, that was not rhetorical.
TELL ME HOW.
Smith Family Weblog 
Posted by Nicky on August 30, 2010 at 8:20 am
Lose the phone for a day or two. Seriously, I misplaced my phone in the car for most of the weekend. I felt anxious on Sunday, worrying about missed calls, but come Monday morning there wasn’t one. Of course, not that many people have my number and there’s no work calling me. The best feature of my cell phone is the keyguard (Colin can’t figure it out). But still, it’s one way to disconnect.
Posted by Jessica on August 30, 2010 at 8:55 am
You get your personal email on your device though don’t you? I’m sure that is more of the problem than work emails. If you only had work on that phone, it would be easier to put down for 2 days in a row. Trust me!
Posted by Rebecca's Mom on August 30, 2010 at 9:19 am
Back when I was still brokering commercial real estate in Lincoln, my phone went overboard into the lake down here one Friday evening. It was the most relaxing, peaceful weekend we had experienced in quite some time.
You could try that . . .
Posted by Doug Smith on August 30, 2010 at 9:50 am
I read you spend the first half of your career trying to get on the hook and the second half trying to get off. That means that eventually you want to escape the world you tried so hard to break into. We rarely watch TV and do not miss it. That means being considered out of it because you aren’t up to speed on Snooki. But the upside is enormous amounts of extra downtime. With young kids, that may not even be possible. Email and text are insidious because you feel you need to respond quickly. I have heard that some people just do e-mail like twice a day – between 8 and 9 and 3:30 and 4, for example. The trick is to use the tools to make your life better, without allowing the tools to control you. That takes discipline, which new technology has wrecked for most of us.