So by the title, it sounds like I’m being super dramatic, and I am, but let me explain. I don’t mean that someone emptied our bank accounts or stole jewelry from inside our house. I mean we’ve been robbed of our time and our ability to think without turning to technology. Over the past few weeks we have discussed the many different ways technology and staying organized and focus can help lead to successful deep work, but at this point in time we have surrendered so much of our time and thought process to different technology, but most specifically our phones.
In Cal Newport’s other book about “Digital Minimalism” he talks about taking back our attention and pulling away from technology, they discuss how companies stole our attention and focus away from us by using our smartphones. “To build a new sector of the economy on the back of this device required somehow convincing people to start looking at their phones … a lot. It was the directive that led companies like Facebook to innovate the field of attention engineering, figuring out how to exploit psychological vulnerabilities to trick users into spending far more time on these services than they actually intended. The average user now spends fifty minutes per day on Facebook products alone,” (Newport).
Looking at technology through this lense is horrifying, it means that if we continue on the path that we’re on we’re gonna end up all psychopaths who have no social skills and can’t look up from their phones. I myself being aware of the dangers, still know that I use technology and my phone way too much each day. When I’m bored I pull out instagram and scroll for ever, and if I run out of things on Instagram to scroll through I jump over to Facebook and scroll through my news feed there. Then in order to further procrastinate my work I go on Youtube and Buzzfeed to escape and pressures and stress that I don’t want to deal with at the moment. But if I already know the damage that it can cause, why don’t I realize that they keep stealing all my time and just stop?
It’s cause they’re so easy to use. “The big companies want “use” to be a simple binary condition – either you engage with their foundational technology, or you’re a weirdo,” (Newport). And Newports right. How often do you give and though something out when you can’t figure it out, but if it’s a breeze to operate and super accessible then there’s nothing stopping you rom using it all the time.
Now as I sit here and continue to type about the horrors of technology just like I have for the past 6 other blog posts, everyone in their right mind knows that you can’t just give it up and run away from all phones, app, social media and technology, it’s not possible in today’s society, but Newport does reveal a way to think about in terms of deep work.
“The problem with this binary response to this issue is that these two choices are much too crude to be useful. The notion that you would quit the Internet is, of course, an overstuffed straw man, infeasible for most… and this reality provides justification for remaining with the only offered alternative: accepting our current distracted state as inevitable,” (Newport 183). As of this moment the first option is how most analysts and deep thinkers believe people should live their lives, void of technology. And the second option is how most people who have to make a living in these time period feel, because at this rate it’s working for them and they all think the world is screwed already, but as I mentioned earlier Newport does believe there is a third option.
“This rule attempts to break us out of this rut by proposing a third option: accepting that these tools are not inherently evil, and that some of them might be quite vital to your success and happiness, but at the same time also accepting that the threshold for allowing a site regular access to your time and attention should be much more stringent,” (Newport 184).
So after all these weeks of blog writing and all these articles screaming the voice of doom about the overuse of technology and that unless you stop your ability to ever accomplish anything deep and meaningful is over, were nothing. In the end, quitting won’t help, but neither will doing nothing. Overall the answer to most people’s issues is moderation, balance and being conscious of your choices. We are able to stop ourselves from being robbed of our time and attention every time we use our phones we just have to be mindful.
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