Just Put Your Phone Away!

   After watching Katie Couric's interview with author William Powers about his controversial book, "Hamlet's Blackberry" I couldn't stop reflecting on my personal life. Is digital media really taking its toll on my physical and mental health? And am I another victim of "digital narcissism" and “over-connectedness"? According to Powers, we all have, some way or the other, been consumed by this notion that the more connected we are to our digital devices then the better off we’ll be. As a digital consumer this argument couldn't have been any truer. The surplus of digital information has had significant effects on our ability to concentrate, think creatively, and most importantly relax. I confess, watching Powers reflect on his personal struggle with digital content put things in perspective for me. How much have these devices effected “how we think, feel, and live?” 

     During the interview Powers states that this “digital overload” has diminished our emotional intelligence. Is it possible that as a generation we have lost the ability to assess and demonstrate basic emotional cues? Body language, facial gestures, and vocal communication are vital for thorough connection between people. Dr. Jennifer Ashton, CBS News Medical Correspondent, on "The Early Show"" stated that the average American spends over 8 hours on electronic material. If more hours are spent interacting electronically then less time will be spent communicating with each other. People are “risking the nonverbal aspect of our social interaction becoming in jeopardy.” Younger generations are growing up with electronic media so readily available; validating the concern for generation z’s insufficient social skills. Communication still exists but how we communicate has drastically transformed, for the better or worse is up to you to decide.

     Not only have our social skills changed but the way we use our most important organ, the brain, has seen some adjustment too.  Powers add that if people are always multitasking then they’ll never allow themselves “to reflect and bring [their] own originality and creativity.” We’ve been conditioned to have everything available within a click of a button, making us, for lack of a better word, lazy. Creating original work and thinking critically has become a challenge. The New York Times author, Matt Richtel describes in his  article from the Your Brains on Computer series that “ when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.” Many of us have been repeated offenders.

     This assumption directly connects to the idea that people just don’t give themselves time to simply relax. Constant stimulation prohibits people to live in the moment. As Dr. Rich of Harvard Medical School stated in Ritchel’s article, “downtime is to the brain what sleep is to the body.” The cravings we get to regularly check our emails and update information on social networking sites should be subsided because just as Powers' accurately explains, "[people] don't need to be a slave to [their] gadgets."

                                          Katie Couric's interview with author William Powers.