Dumbphone Owners Have Lost Their Minds (wired.com) 136
The growing enthusiasm among Gen Z for ditching smartphones in favor of basic "dumbphones" may be overlooking a significant cognitive reality, according to a WIRED essay that draws on the 1998 "extended mind hypothesis" by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers. The hypothesis argues that external tools can extend the biological brain in an all but physical way, meaning your phone isn't just a device -- it's part of a single cognitive system composed of both the tool and your brain.
"Interference with my phone is like giving me some brain damage," Clark told Wired. He expressed concern about the dumbphone movement, calling it "generally a retrograde step" and warning that as smartphone enmeshment becomes the societal norm, those who opt out risk becoming "effectively disabled within that society." Clark described this as "the creation of a disempowered class."
98% of Americans between 18 and 29 own a smartphone, dropping only to 97% for those aged 30 to 49. Even committed dumbphone users struggle. One user profiled in the piece still carries an "emergency iPhone" for work requirements and admits long-distance friendships have become "nearly impossible to maintain."
"Interference with my phone is like giving me some brain damage," Clark told Wired. He expressed concern about the dumbphone movement, calling it "generally a retrograde step" and warning that as smartphone enmeshment becomes the societal norm, those who opt out risk becoming "effectively disabled within that society." Clark described this as "the creation of a disempowered class."
98% of Americans between 18 and 29 own a smartphone, dropping only to 97% for those aged 30 to 49. Even committed dumbphone users struggle. One user profiled in the piece still carries an "emergency iPhone" for work requirements and admits long-distance friendships have become "nearly impossible to maintain."
Except smart phone owners have lost their minds (Score:5, Insightful)
This is an interesting perspective considering how many people are taking "wellness breaks" away from these devices, and mental health issues have come up due to the obsession with using these devices.
What's next, saying I'm antisocial for maintaining personal relationships outside of "social media" and calling it harmful to myself because I'm not a doomscroller?
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Re:Except smart phone owners have lost their minds (Score:5, Interesting)
I have pretty much all notifications disabled and I keep my phone in Do Not Disturb mode 24/7. That doesn't prevent me from spending too much time reading news while sitting on the can, but it does at least prevent the phone from breaking my concentration with some sort of alert message every 45 seconds. It's made a big difference.
Re:Except smart phone owners have lost their minds (Score:4, Informative)
People have always read news while sitting on the can, they just used to do it with a physical newspaper.
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It is kinda in the name of that magazine...
Re: Except smart phone owners have lost their mind (Score:2)
Oh, you read it, my bad. I recycle it
Re:Except smart phone owners have lost their minds (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I am happy to have a couple of apps that I regularly use at my fingertips: Home Assistant, banking apps, parking apps, apps for ordering a cab (Uber), email and calendar: these objectively make my life better, easier, while not impinging on my attention all the time. On the other hand, when I carry a smart phone, I do find myself checking news and other things whenever I have some downtime, even though I am not that active on social media. It truly is something of an addiction, one that I am trying to cut back on. But I wouldn't want to go back to a dumb phone and lose all that functionality.
But not having a smartphone doesn't mean losing that functionality. It only means losing immediate access. Almost everyone with a smartphone also has a PC or tablet that can essentially do almost everything the smartphone can do. What is lost are immediate notifications and the ability/temptation to check on things.
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It is probably both depending on the usage. The problem is not only the social media companies are pushing toxic content ("engagement bait") to you, but the phone OS companies are pushing those social media apps into your face. You really need to resist the temptation to give in to these things. And both companies try all psychological tricks to keep you engaged (and in the end to get you to pay for something you don't need).
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It is probably both depending on the usage. The problem is not only the social media companies are pushing toxic content ("engagement bait") to you, but the phone OS companies are pushing those social media apps into your face. You really need to resist the temptation to give in to these things. And both companies try all psychological tricks to keep you engaged (and in the end to get you to pay for something you don't need).
Yeah the pre-installed apps were the first sign to me that the phone makers were not on my side. The second sign was when they made it really hard to actually REMOVE these apps (instead of just hiding them)
It is the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
Relying on an easy and available substitute cripples your mind and makes you dumber.
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Re: It is the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
It could be, but it isn't. Instead of being a resource saving tool, the fondleslab is a killer of time.
Re:It is the opposite (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed, it does. But since those made dumber are not only dumber, they also fear loosing their substitute for a working mind, they will respond aggressively and with the most deranged "arguments" to any suggestion that they may be doing something stupid.
Re:It is the opposite (Score:4, Funny)
These days the smartphone auto carrot is so "smart" that I'm not sure whose mistakes am I reading.
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Yes.... the dumb smartphone users feel how dumb they've become when they move to a dumbphone which eventually will make them smarter dumbphone users but until that realization, they will tend to blame their dumbphone for them being dumb since that is the variable that changed.
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Man, I had to draw a chart on my smartphone and have the AI to line it up to see what you mean but then BANG! it hit me like the Apocalypse hit the John.
You're absolutely right!
Re:It is the opposite (Score:5, Funny)
Correct. Look at Matt Murdock. He lost his sight, but did this cripple him? Not at all. Just because he could no longer look at his iPhone and swipe left, his mind adapted and he learned to see with his ears and increase his ninjitsu skills dramatically by enhanced touch. Now he fights crime bosses like Mr Fisk.
But of course you say he's the exception, I'm superior with my iPhone and those other kids are cripples. Think again. Matt Murdock looks like a cripple too with his boring stick that doesn't even have a USB connector, does that make him a failed super hero? I beg to differ! So next time you see some dumb kids playing ball instead of caressing their phone like a cool kid, maybe ask yourself if they work for the Hand.
Re: It is the opposite (Score:3)
Yep, for many applications there's nothing better than Fortran is available. Weaklings try to simulate it with newmpie and psypie and when it doesn't work, they come crying that they need a bigger compewter.
It's pretty funny (Score:4, Funny)
This creates a situation where you could use radio interference or DDOS 30 points of IQ out of the population instantly.
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What makes you think that is not the plan?
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The fact the people on top are just as dumb probably.
Not everything has to be a perfect orchestrated lelouch master plan, sometimes (many times given it's centralized power) they can just fuck up.
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Re:It's pretty funny (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do you think AI is being front and centered? You get people reliant on it, it turns their brains off, then you pull the AI plug and have a populace that is dumber than Idiocracy and ready to follow whatever nonsense the gov puts out.
The government? Really? The government has checks and balances, albeit sometimes flawed. Big corporations do not even have flawed checks and balances.
Re: It's pretty funny (Score:2)
Hilarious! Slashdot never fails to entertain :)
The US has lost our democracy because of Biden. I love it.
Re: It's pretty funny (Score:2)
Isn't it gov't with a T for...naah
What is this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do people care what type of phone others have? Tracking? Missing out on that ad revenue or information gathering?
Slashdot needs a "stupid news" section or "pointless news" section.
Shit post.
Re:What is this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or someone knows what a freak of nature his phone addiction makes him, and is desperately trying to feel more normal by projecting his failings onto everyone.
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Why do people care what type of phone others have? Tracking? Missing out on that ad revenue or information gathering?
Both.
what the hell? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Interference with my phone is like giving me some brain damage," Clark told Wired. He expressed concern about the dumbphone movement, calling it "generally a retrograde step" and warning that as smartphone enmeshment becomes the societal norm, those who opt out risk becoming "effectively disabled within that society." Clark described this as "the creation of a disempowered class."
Well, if I wondered what the stupidest thing I'd read on the internet today was going to be, I'm pretty sure now.
Some nobody "philosopher" pulls some gestalt-mind-theory out of his ass about smartphones making us part of a meta-consciousness (mainly because he apparently has connection-anxiety) is ridiculous.
Haidt, et al, are doing really important, interesting, compelling work showing that for all the utility smartphones provide, devices like this are doing literal cognitive and emotional damage to young people. A vast array of negative social markers from loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide all SURGING coincidental with widespread access to smart phones.
Certainly young people are more vulnerable, but to suggest older people aren't being harmed in similar (but likely less deformative) ways would be unlikely.
Smart phones are FANTASTICALLY USEFUL. No question. But I can speak for myself that a good chunk the broad breadth of knowledge I used to have in my mind I now have to look up (that could be senility, too). Who even knows their kids phone numbers anymore?
To insist that people who want to get off the smartphone ecosystem are somehow impaired or dysfunctional itself flies in the face of a growing body of research the other way 'round.
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Insightful)
My thoughts exactly. Interference with his iPhone is giving him brain damage because he's never learned (or has forgotten) how to deal with the world without it.
It's not just that he can't do the things the phone explicitly made possible, eg. talking to people halfway around the world in effectively real time. He probably can't navigate without his Google Maps, can't put numbers together in his head, can't cook up a simple meal from memory of how to do it. These are things people did just fine before we had a 'brain' in our pockets, but they are becoming effectively lost skills because people never bother to learn them in the first place.
The phone is not an extra brain. It's a nanny. At some point you need to outgrow the need for a nanny.
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My thoughts exactly. Interference with his iPhone is giving him brain damage because he's never learned (or has forgotten) how to deal with the world without it.
the word "like" is what you guys are missing here. the article is ofc typical social media grade slop but is basically saying the same as you. smartphones do extend functionality and are increasingly becoming indispensable for some functions, and limiting oneself's functionality can be metaphorically compared to brain damage. although not a very bright or fortunate comparision it's not really difficult to get.
The phone is not an extra brain. It's a nanny. At some point you need to outgrow the need for a nanny.
yes indeed. moderation is the key. anyhow, stowing away your smartphone might be a first step or ta
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My thoughts exactly. Interference with his iPhone is giving him brain damage because he's never learned (or has forgotten) how to deal with the world without it.
And now we have AI on top of that.
Re:what the hell? (Score:4, Insightful)
>"To insist that people who want to get off the smartphone ecosystem are somehow impaired or dysfunctional itself flies in the face of a growing body of research the other way 'round."
Yeah, totally crazy.
The major problem is that most people apparently have no self control, at all. You don't have to switch to a "dumb" phone to purge yourself of constant irritation and distraction...
1) Change your app notifications. Turn them OFF or make them totally silent (no audio/no vibe) based on which app. And/or set a schedule.
2) Turn off SMS notifications for unknown contacts. And stop handing out your phone number to companies. Give them an Email address. Encourage friends and family to send you Email, not SMS, if it is not urgent/important. Turn off Email notifications, check it manually a few times a day.
3) Remove apps that are distracting or those for which you have no self-control. Connect to those systems at home, on your desktop/laptop/tablet when you have time to dedicate to them. Plus you will have a real screen, keyboard, mouse, so it will be a better and faster experience, and you will time to actually think about what you are reading and posting.
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1) There are a million times more things than just notifications for which a smart phone is useful. Games, maps, translators, reading books/articles, network utilities, calculators, etc, etc, etc.
2) Why would you buy a new one every "one to three" years? I always keep mine for 4 to 6.
3) Would would it need to be a "lot" of money? I always buy a midrange. My last one cost $400 and is fantastic (Samsung A52 5G). Or you can get a lowrange for $150 to $200. People spending $800 to $1200 on a phone is usua
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"Interference with my phone is like giving me some brain damage," Clark told Wired. He expressed concern about the dumbphone movement, calling it "generally a retrograde step" and warning that as smartphone enmeshment becomes the societal norm, those who opt out risk becoming "effectively disabled within that society." Clark described this as "the creation of a disempowered class."
Well, if I wondered what the stupidest thing I'd read on the internet today was going to be, I'm pretty sure now.
I'm glad they are gone now, but those Covid tracking programs often required a smartphone app. My bank won't let me use their website without first signing in with their app. There have been plenty of conversations here on Slashdot about restaurants that only use QR codes for ordering food.
So while I might not agree with the author's writing style (I don't usually find much good reading in Wired) I do think he has a point about dumbphone users being marginalised at times.
This is correct (Score:4, Insightful)
I remember back in 2005 (and before that as well) about 2 years before the iPhone launched .. people were getting +5 Insightful for posts that said we need to have a separate device for everything and smartphones are a dumb idea without utilizing any brain cells thinking that tech would get better/improve. And this was SLASHDOT .. supposedly tech people,. The same fools who today argue against full-self driving cars, AI, robotics, and satellite broadband services.
Reference .. against smartphones:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
Pro touchscreen-based smartphone (me):
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
Re:This is correct (Score:4, Insightful)
I think it's hard to argue against those posts after seeing what smartphones actually brought us.
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I find my current smartphone much more practical than the one I had in 2004.
Re: This is correct (Score:2)
Not me, due to primarily to the loss of the physical keyboard.
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Not me, due to primarily to the loss of the physical keyboard.
And the removable/upgradeable memory.
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Yes, those too. But to be fair, in 2004, microSD cards only went to 32GB max, and most phones nowadays have more than that.
The removable battery is a problem, but not a day-to-day one fortunately. It's a tax - you have to pay for labor to replace it.
Whereas you just can't add storage or keyboards to most current phones.
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Found the kid. MicroSD cards were only just introduced in 2004, weren't even called MicroSD and weren't available to the general public until a couple of years later. Their capacity was measured in megabytes, not gigabytes.
Re: This is correct (Score:2)
Kid? Check the UID.
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Yes, kid. Back in the day slashdot accounts and low number ICQ UINs have been traded for actual money. Someone who has been there wouldn't make such a mistake.
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"LLMs" are not AI.
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You're probably 20 years late to this party. There are very, very, VERY few of the usual things that the phone replaced where the phones are doing a sub-par job. Maybe the only relevant somehow common example is a bright, telephoto lens, sure you can't beat physics and replace sometimes literally kilograms of glass with a lens as small as the
"Nearly possible to maintain"...? (Score:3)
I guess nobody owns those "computer" things anymore...?
Re:"Nearly possible to maintain"...? (Score:5, Insightful)
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You mirror my phone use perfectly. It's a tool for emergencies, not really anything else.
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my use of the smartphone is nearly identical to yours except i ignore 99% of phone calls too; it is almost constantly on dnd. then again the majority of the population aren't regular computer users ... so they have to make do with the small screens and retarded user interfaces of those permanently attention-grabbing and basically untrustable little devices.
Re: "Nearly possible to maintain"...? (Score:2)
Found my twin ;-)
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Erm, last time I saw regular computer ownership was probably a decade ago?
For reference, none of my tenants have computers. Leases, PDFs, bills and life are handled via mobiles.
The only folks I know who might have laptops are either provided by work or those enrolled in university.
Many gamers have moved on to consoles or more convenient things like the Steamdeck.
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b) If your friend group is constantly online on a text/discord/messenger/I-don't-know-because-I'm-old and you check in once a day, you can look like you're not interested in being part of the group. Someone says something important, like maybe breaking up with an SO, at 10 AM. Everyone else immediately replies with support, questions, whatever. By time you check in at 10 PM, the conversation has long since moved on. So now your choices are (
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Yes, but. (Score:4, Insightful)
The most obvious ones are screaming for your attention and demanding engagement from whatever notifications area your OS of choice (all of 2) provides. The slightly less obvious ones are watching you; but with the intent that you that you are being watched(probably less of a risk for 68 year olds of independent means; a much more immediate one for anyone who grew up being stalked by their parents over life360 or the like); and then the various advertising and data brokerage ones that are deliberately understated about their observation.
Obviously you don't read Wired for the pessimistic take(as close as they get is the occasional flirtation with some cypherpunk thing that is swimming against the tide rather harder than anyone trying not to use a smartphone); but my impression is that people don't avoid smartphones because they think they are incapable tools; but out of concern over what purposes they are being turned to and whether the benefits are accruing to them or from them.
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What Clark seems oddly sanguine about is the fact that a smartphone isn't just yours. It has a variety of masters,
Members of the Outer Party are not permitted to turn off their Telescreens.
What drivel (Score:3)
I really don't know where to begin to respond to this nonsensical article. But somehow, I managed to live about 75% of my life without a smart phone (and indeed, probably 60% without a mobile phone) and my cognitive abilities are OK.
There is one kernel of truth in the article, though... it's getting harder and harder not to have a smart phone. For example, if you want to see a concert, a lot of venues require you to have the Ticketmaster app for those annoying mobile tickets with the moving blue bar. That's super-annoying and a giant imposition on the public.
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I really don't know where to begin to respond to this nonsensical article. But somehow, I managed to live about 75% of my life without a smart phone (and indeed, probably 60% without a mobile phone) and my cognitive abilities are OK.
There is one kernel of truth in the article, though... it's getting harder and harder not to have a smart phone. For example, if you want to see a concert, a lot of venues require you to have the Ticketmaster app for those annoying mobile tickets with the moving blue bar. That's super-annoying and a giant imposition on the public.
i mean yeah that's dumb but whatever I'll just go see concerts that aren't doing through Ticketmaster...... oh wait.
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But somehow, I managed to live about 75% of my life without a smart phone
I remember briefly skimming one of those clickbait articles about some parents who were ostensibly raising their kids without access to any technologies that didn't exist in the late 80s/early 90s. Thing was, back then you could ride your bike to the local video store and rent a movie. Today, video stores are gone. While we didn't have Spotify or mobile games, we had Walkmans (and their various clones) with music being readily available on cassette tape, and if your folks had the money, you might've owne
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1.) None of that stuff was constantly demanding your attention every few minutes / seconds. Yes, there were people who wouldn't put the Gameboy down until they found a save point, (Hi!), but that's not a hard requirement. They were not constantly in FOMO mode on everything. It was something you looked forward to when things were done. (Barring that new fangled ADHD....)
2.) There was a strong disconnect from those things. Biking
I have a smartphone, it sits unused on my desk (Score:3)
I use it when I'm on the road, and I'm rarely on the road.
I live my digital life on a proper computer with a 32" 4K screen, keyboard and mouse.
A smartphone may have a powerful processor, but I feel crippled when forced to use its tiny screen and awful touch interface.
I can't imagine how anyone would choose such a horrible option when better choices are readily available.
Why settle at dumphones? (Score:2)
You can go further. [thenophone.com]
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You can go further. [thenophone.com]
Even better, the NoPhone Air [thenophone.com] - only $6.00 USD. :-)
- Thin, light and invisible design.
- The least advanced NoPhone ever.
I guess when the meaning of most people's... (Score:2)
I'll chalk this up as one of them.
There’s more than one way of living (Score:2)
Young people experimenting with various forms of back-to-the-old ways is hardly a new thing. Every generation thinks they discovered “retro”.
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It's not like the Amish were like "the 15th century was so cool! Let's screw all this modern shit and party like it's 1693 forever!" They were never really looking backward, they just sort of stopped moving forward ... though it's not quite as simple as that. It's not that they're rejecting modernity either. It's more about living conservatively for moral and social reasons. (Not like those shameless Menonnites! Did you see the colors on those women?! Disgraceful!) You'll even find some Amish with e
Context is key (Score:4, Insightful)
I dunno... (Score:3)
... your phone isn't just a device -- it's part of a single cognitive system composed of both the tool and your brain.
Gee - does this remind anyone else here of The Borg?
Interference with my phone is like giving me some brain damage
Oh - so by logical extension, having a broken screwdriver or pliers is "like giving me some hand damage"? Get a grip dude - your phone is a tool, not an extension of your Earthly being!
It sounds to me as though this young man is one step away from viewing his phone as a potential sexual partner. Given his seeming preference for silicon over skin, it wouldn't surprise me to know that he either has trouble getting laid, or has no interest in same.
As for "brain damage": given this guy's thesis, that ship may already be far beyond the horizon...
Effectively, we're all cyborgs. (Score:2)
Since it's nearly impossible to do elementary stuff without a smartphone these days without going through significant difficulties, our inseparable dependence on phones makes us effectively cyborgs.
Can't imagine why anyone wants one (Score:2)
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The trade-off of not having a smartphone is all the time you're now spending trying to do things the old fashioned way, like standing in a queue to order take-out food.
It must be true (Score:2)
Small Potatoes (Score:2)
Singularity (Score:2)
It sounds like he's saying we have already passed the Singularity and done so with the stupidest possible version of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Don't blame iphones (Score:2)
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Yep, I have an iPhone 5 SE and use it the same way you do. I had to ditch my dumb phone when 3G was deprecated. Found the SE sitting in a drawer unused. I could never imagine putting account information on it even though a 5 SE is probably low on a thief's list.
A mix of reasonable & silly (Score:2)
These arguments seem like a reasonable point mixed in with neurobullshit.
The reasonable point is that people have become very (too?) dependent on their smartphones. The bullshit is that it's part of the mind. No, it's part of your niche [wikipedia.org]. So are lots of other things.
FWIW, I live a perfectly fulfilling life without my phone. I never carry it with me, except when I need a GPS. About 90% of the time, it sits on my desk at home, not in my pocket. I walk over to check it a few times a day for text messages. It's
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It's a part of your mind like a crutch is a part of your leg. It's clumsy and far less useful than a healthy leg. Thing is, most people don't NEED the crutch and shouldn't be depending on it.
dependence (Score:2)
Okay, sure, change the subject to addictive drugs and you can make the same argument.
Closed source brains (Score:3)
We let a few companies control the software on a device we have apparently incorporated into our cognitive system. We don't demand they give us control over the direction of this software, and they have only partially revealed the source code and implementation details. The added twist is that Google and Microsoft are putting AI in everything, which cannot be audited or evaluated for correctness and lacks any safety protocols.
The actual "retrograde strep" has been for 90% of people to adopt these devices as the central tool in their daily lives. A device that often does little beyond connecting you to an online marketplace that lies to you in order to trick you into buying things you don't need.
I would argue that smartphones are more damaging to the average person's health and well being than alcohol consumption or casual ownership of fire arms. But we treat smartphones like it's no more dangerous than giving caffeine to children. We're pretty fucked as a society, and I don't think we're going to make it if we keep acting like everything is OK when it clearly is not.
For the trie Amish experience... (Score:3)
You might try changing your cell provider to T-Mobile. Only the occasional call goes through, and your friends will learn to communicate with you using snail mail letters.
My Estimates (Score:2)
Here is what I estimate I do
Percent of time playing stupid games/looking at stupid short videos: 40% (For me it mostly games, but some prefer videos)
Percent of time reading books that I purchased online but could have purchased paper: 35%
Percent of time looking at advertisements: 10%
Percent of time looking up things I would never look up before my phone: 8%
Percent of time used for looking up information that in the past I would get from paper for: 5%
Percent of time buying stuff that I would have done by
Intriguing. (Score:3)
It's certainly true that the brain does not exist in isolation, and that any tightly-coupled system essentially acts as a single system.
However, smartphones don't necessarily offload the right stuff from the brain. You ideally want the brain to do the thinking stuff and your smartphone to offload all the mundane stuff that interferes with coherent thinking. This is because of how the brain works.
If you push specific parts of your brain hard, you can extend them by up to 20% in the number of neurons involved (and much more than that in the number of synapses), but only by sacrificing neurons from other functions in the brain.
The ideal is to have the smartphone do the stuff you need to shrink in order to grow the stuff you want to actually utilise, so that your functionality hasn't worsened anywhere but you can still actually become a mega-genius at some tasks.
This is not how smartphones are designed and this is not how smartphones are used. Smartphones are designed stupidly and used stupidly. This is a serious problem, leads to phone addiction, and a net redunction in mental capacity. Now, off with ye, I need to get back to that minesweeper app.
The biggest reason why I have a dumbphone... (Score:2)
I do this because everyone who does system/network administration is a target -- for anyone capable of targeting them. See NSA hacker in residence dishes on how to hunt system admins [arstechnica.com] for example, and that was old news to most of us when it was
I have NOT lost ... (Score:2)
A little bit of FOMO mixed with hard nonsense (Score:2)
The article is even more inane than the summary.
Want and Updated LG Lotus (original) (Score:2)
how have I lost my mind? (Score:2)
Hypothesis being the key word here... (Score:2)
So, this argument all pivots on this theory of extended mind by two philosophers, a theory that (looks around) isn't widely accepted at all in their specialized field of studies.
Let's compare this to the growing body of negative effects of constant access social media on children and the related ethical concerns.
If Gen Z decides to learn how to use maps more, keep written journals and do basic math with a calculator and make friends in real life that's a overall win for everybody.
They will still have access
It's society that needs to adjust (Score:2)
Dumb phone != land line? (Score:2)
Or I'm the odd man out...
There's probably a break even point (Score:2)
No, it's the other way around (Score:2)
The Hive Mind has no business doing my thinking for me, because it seems the Lowest Common Denominator (or at least the Mean, then) drowns out the outliers, by sheer volume and algorithmic amplification. And the outliers are where progress is at (or doom, so you need to sift them critically, not by popularity or even your own ingrained biases).
Just last night over supper with some relations, one person bemoaned all the cat and off-the-rails preacher videos that get forwarded to her by well-meaning friends.
To everything there is a ... purpose (Score:2)
BTW, special apps for FB, for Insta, etc etc?! I say NO. If it is not accessible via browser, I move on.
Similar to physical tools... (Score:3)
Just like owning a backhoe makes digging a ditch easier, having a smartphone makes collecting information easier. The problem is that using a backhoe to dig a ditch means you don't become stronger through exercise. Likewise, if you don't exercise the part of your brain for recalling and synthesizing information, that part atrophies.
For those of us over 40, how many phone numbers did you used to have memorized during the days of landlines? How many do you remember today? At one point, I knew dozens of phone numbers. Now I know only those of my immediate family. Heck, I don't even remember my own work phone number.
At the same time, the machine allows us to do tasks that we could never perform no matter how much we hone our skills. I'm never going to be able to dig a 100ft trench 3 ft deep in a day no matter how much I train. I'm never going to be able to memorize the phone numbers of hundreds of contacts. So like many things in life, it's a tradeoff. I think the trick is to balance the expansion of abilities enabled by technologies without letting your own skills atrophy to the point of dependence. Going all "dumbphone" may be too far, but being glued to screens 24/7 isn't healthy either.
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If the photo of the author listed on the byline [wired.com] is anything to go on, Generation Z really is aging poorly versus us Millenials before them.
WTF are you talking about? All I see is a photo of a completely normal-looking young woman in her 20s wearing no makeup. She certainly looks no different than my Gen X peers looked at that age.
the most shrill and superficial wave of young people to hit society in ages
Dear lord, the irony.