Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Are smart devices causing us attention issues?

You see it all the time. Your out eating and you look over and there is a family of 4 at the other table. No one is looked at each other because they all have their noses buried in their phones. Then you keep watching and one of them asks a question to the other person and the answer is "HUH?" Then they are trying to place their order with the waitress and they cant accurately convey the message of what they want so they get upset and blame the waitress as if its her fault they cannot speak correctly.
Mobile devices have given us unlimited access to countless Gigabytes of data. But what cost does this come with? The ability to work anywhere and look up anything at any place is an awesome concept. But does it cause us to forget common logic and keep us working at times when we should be doing our own things? People tend to lose the ability to unplug and disconnect and take time for themselves. I have done this before and now make sure I take time for myself and let the phone beep and buzz with its updates. I tell myself "we can check them later". Same goes for the other way too. The person sending the email at 1 am may even expect a response, smart devices have created this effect as well. People send messages and think the other person is looking at their data 24/7 no matter what time it is.
I have talked to people of all ages and noticed those who grew up with this technology and use it heavily seem to have some difficulty speaking to people face to face. I do feel that these devices take away the ability for people to communicate if smart devices are used at a younger age. Now there may be classes that will be taught to reinforce proper communication and general conversation skills. But these may be a way off and will not get to all the people that need them now. Is limiting children from using these devices frequently a good way to stop this? Perhaps setting an age limit to say 12 before introducing children to these devices. By this age, they should already have developed decent communication skills and have been through quite a bit of English and grammar teachings.
Smart devices are here to stay, but we need to make sure they do not make us dumb at the same time! People need to learn to "unplug" and truly go off line to relax and keep stress from work to a minimum.

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