So we have hit the halfway point in the semester and everyone is drowning in work. And while you might think that must mean deep work and the productivity of long term projects is at an all-time high, in fact, and especially for me, it is at an all-time low. I have so many projects and papers and they all are due at the same time, and instead of properly planning and trying to get a head I just feel defeated and so I slack off and just use my phone.
In the “Sociology of the Smartphone” the author Adam Greenfield sums the use of the smartphone perfectly. “They are the last thing we look at before sleep each night, and the first thing we reach for upon waking,” (Greenfield). This phrase is honestly the truest thing I have read so far. I receive alerts and updates from my phone every night reminding me things that I should have completed with in the day and in the morning I get reminders of things that I must complete for the day. But quite honestly getting these updates and checking my phone at night and in the morning just induces constant stress.
But to my dismay, this week in class we talked about project management, which in another blog I talk deeply about how that went. Personally, I think using these apps and having a constant reminder in your pocket about all the things you’re not doing is pointless. “We find that a great many of things city dwellers once relied upon to manage everyday life as recently as ten years ago have by now been subsumed by a single object” (Greenfield). So if this is the case and people are no longer walking around with a bunch of things in their pockets and purses because the phone is now able to do all of it, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do these apps actually help us stay organized and get things done or do they just distract and fill us with more anxiety?
On my phone and my laptop, I don’t have any games because I don’t enjoying playing them and I think they are a waste of time so the only updates I get on my phone are texts, calls, emails and reminders from different project management apps I have for different jobs and classes. So even though I don’t waste my time with games I certainly feel like I’m wasting it by constantly checking these apps and watching videos all day, which I have described the addiction to things like YouTube and Buzzfeed in a different blog.
So if society is depending too heavily on their apps and using their phone then why don’t they just stop? Well the answer is because it’s really hard to change your behavior that drastically. So what have researchers and technology designers created to help with that … another app. You can download productivity apps that allow you to monitor how much time you use your phone and reach goals on how little you use your phone that day. For example in an article I found online titled, “Spending too much time on your phone? Behavioral science has an app for that” it talks about certain apps you should download to help beat the addiction to your phone. “Productivity apps like deliberate incorporate these rewards as well, by providing users with points for prizes – such as shopping discounts and yoga experiences – when they meet their screen time goals. Since static rewards become demotivating over time, choose an application that provides uncertain and surprising rewards,” (Whillans). I don’t know enough about other people’s opinions but to me this just seems extremely counterproductive.
Another huge reason I think all the management phone apps are a hindrance is because to do deep work, as Cal Newport would say, is to be completely undistracted. “Bill Gates … was famous for taking Think Weeks during which he would leave behind his normal behind his normal work and family obligations to retreat to a cabin with a stack of papers and books. His goal was to think deeply, without distraction, about the big issues relevant to his company” (Newport). If Bill Gates had been distracted by his own software then he wouldn’t have figured out how to create it.
Over all I think if we want to be happier and more productive then we need to lesson not exactly the use of the whole phone, but the use of all the apps that control all these different aspects of your life. Like project management, sleep, calorie intake, and even when to go to bathroom. It’s insane and it’s addictive. Instead of using apps to manage your life, “Expose yourself to nature. Consider using at least part of your break to get away from technology and spend a few minutes in a natural setting” (Gazzaley, Rosen).
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