Yes, by now we all know that smartphones and social media are doing us harm. How do we harness the benefits of them without the destructive effects.
The book Offline makes 5 main points. If you've only got a minute, here they are:
- The addictive design keeps us on online platforms longer.
- The 'brain hacks' disrupt our brain's ability to function.
- Humans need "real" interaction, and social media does not deliver this.
- Technoference (digital over-riding direct interactions at the play ground, coffee shop, dinner table) result in something valuable being lost.
- Speed of the transformation is astounding. 75% of people are connected, with almost half using social media. We have no idea what the long-term effects of this real-life experiment will be.
So what are side-effects?
According to various studies, the effects can be grouped into the physiological (poor sleep, neural re-wiring, and increased stress), the psychological (reduced mental agility, mental overload, decision fatigue, decreased attention span, reduced creativity, decreased self confidence) and the social (diminished empathy, increased loneliness and reality distortion).
About the self-confidence; people who spend more time on facebook, and who have a higher number of facebook friends that are actually strangers are more likely to feel that others have got better lives.
Should we stop completely?
Surprisingly, the authors say no. "Conscious use towards a positive and focussed goal can do enormous good. Continuous idle use is probably not going to lead anywhere good."
Why is that? It seems the authors figure that the technology delivers great benefits. For those short deliberate purposeful activities, the benefits outweigh the costs. But when the use is aimless, the damaging effects are way worse than any mild entertainment that we might stumble across accidentally.
The information tsunami
Apparently, 90% of all "information" has been created in last 2 years. Our brains can't keep up with that.
The likes of maps and phonebooks used to store the information we couldn't hold in our heads. Technology can be the modern equivalent. However maps and phone books didn't deliberately distract us for hours at a time.
(Sidenote: there was an interesting tangent about how much of our minute-by-minute actions are driven by our subconscious rather than our conscious. It's often that subconscious mind that the 'brain hacks' are targetting.)
But we're connecting with people
Humans do have a need for relationship and belonging. These needs appear to be met by social media. But not really. We're tricked into thinking we've gotten what we need, but without having actually obtained it. The authors describe it as "like trying to water a plant with a picture of water".
Why does this happen?
Dopamine v Oxytocin
Both of these are brain chemicals that give us good feelings.
Dopamine is a reward-based stimulant often talked about with regards to gambling addicts. It's what makes it so hard for them to walk away from poker machines.
Oxytocin is related to social bonding. It's why it feels so good to get a hug from a loved one. Or as my (real-life) friend explained to me, Oxytocin is what "makes mums love their alien-looking child at birth".
It's fairly obvious which one of these is generated by scrolling social media, and which one is truly helpful to our wellbeing.
The marshmallow test
In the famous marshmallow test, psychologists would leave a child with one marshmallow for five minutes - with the promise that if it remained uneaten, the child could have two marshmallows.
The child's ability to hold out for five minutes was a measure of both impulse control and of the delayed gratification - both of which are good traits to develop.
The authors describe smartphones as a giant marshmallow test but with two major changes. First, we are rewarded for eating now rather than waiting. Second, unlike eating marshmallows, digitally there's almost no limit to how much we can consume.
The authors fear the consequences of this instant gratification. What does it do to people's ability to patiently study for years to become a surgeon, or to learn a musical instrument, or even listen attentively to loved ones?
Brain disruption
We have a limited working memory. The info we receive would overwhelm our brain. So most of it is filtered out and we pay attention to only a small fraction of it.
Distractions or interruptions make our brain switch channels. This reduces our ability to function and we make more mistakes.
Other life issues
The authors point out how well facebook knows you (based on likes, clicks etc) and their ability to target you with ads. Advertisers can use re-marketing an other tricks to get you to buy more stuff.
Google skews search results based on your profile. At first this seems like a handy feature, but it can also lead to confirmation bias and social polarisation.
So what's the answer?
In the final chapter the authors surprisingly say that devices and social media are OK. Both the authors use them. But the key is to "use them to the extent that you want to, not the extent you are manipulated to".
Their four step plan involves
- Writing "life stories" (how you want life to be) about the four zones of life (family life, leisure life, own-time life, work life).
- Map your habits. How much time are you on devices and which zone were you in?
- Identify triggers and cues (what activities or situations cause you to use your smartphone)
- Work out countermoves.
The counter moves may include
- leave your phone in your bag (maybe even on silent) or at home if you're at the café
- turn off notifications (they're an on-ramp to wasted time)
- set a timer for checking emails (so a 5 minute email check doesn't turn into a 45 minute social media scroll)
- charge outside of the bedroom (so you're not tempted to use smartphone in bed)
- turn it off when driving (even hands-free slows down driver reaction time)
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