On 8/24/10 Matt Richtel (the Pulitzer Prize winning technology journalist from the NY Times) spoke on NPR about the hazards of over-use of screens for our brains and our relationships. In the 1960s the only screen in our lives was the TV in our living room, except for occasional trips to the movie theater. Now we not only use computer screens at home and office, but we carry portable screens around with us wherever we go on our mobiles, blackberries and I-pads. They have become ubiquitous.
Screens keep us in touch with supervisors, co-workers, clients, family and friends. They are fun and entertaining. But, says Richtel, we need to think carefully about the costs of using screens in certain situations. When you’re trying to combine one activity with “information jiggling” the result may be failure at both. Texting while driving has been shown to cause a level of impaired reactions equal to being drunk. Even hands free cell phone use while driving can slow reaction time by just enough milliseconds to cause a collision. On my way back from the store this morning to buy milk a young man glued to his cell phone walked in front of my car against a red light and a red “Don’t Walk” signal. Lucky for him I wasn’t using a cell phone too.
Car shows this year are displaying new models with 10 inch screens on the dash that allow the driver to see restaurant reviews, album covers and a variety of other content. If you feel compelled to buy this sort of car please protect yourself, your car occupants and others on the road by having your passenger read this stuff. Keep your eyes on the road.
Richtel wants us to ask whether our hunger for a constant stream of data in our lives has helped or hurt us. There is abundant research to show that our brains slow down and make more mistakes when processing more than one task. Two is difficult but three is a fiasco according to research published in the April 2010 issue of Science by Etienne Koechlin, a professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.
Although people believe they are great at multi-tasking, our brains were not designed to track and digest the sheer amount of information we are getting from screens. If our ancestors had to read and respond to emails on their cells phones while deciding whether or not to run from a saber tooth tiger, we probably wouldn’t be here. Although we don’t have saber tooth tigers anymore, compulsively checking your email and flipping your attention back and forth from email or texting to what you should be focusing on makes it hard to do anything well. How many lawyers have you seen at MCLE seminars scanning and replying to emails on their laptops when they were supposed to be listening to a lecture that could prevent malpractice?
Richtel says you may think you’re spending quality time with your kids while checking and responding to text messages on your phone, but you’re not really present and you’re not really listening to them. He finds it disrespectful. He also worries that parents who do this are teaching their kids to devalue others in the same way. I’ve noticed that these days a play date for 9 year old boys involves both boys sitting faced in opposite directions hunched over their video game players.
To probe the full effects of frequent screen use Richtel accompanied a group of neuroscientists to a very remote corner of Utah on a camping trip. The rule of the expedition was that no one could bring any type of screen be it a PC, hand held device or mobile phone. Half of the group was made of believers (those who were convinced e-screens were bad for focus and concentration) and half of skeptics (those who thought the value of constant access to information outweighed any problems associated with e-screens).
Richtel says that after 3 days with no e-screens everyone felt more relaxed. Their sense of urgency had faded. They took longer to answer questions. They slept better. When Richtel came home from that trip he banned cell phone use whenever he spent time with his son. He also took himself off Twitter. Simplifying your life in this day may mean eliminating some possessions, but it can also mean less time on e-screens.
As a technology based culture we have crossed a line. There is no going back to the old days. Screens are here to stay and they will continue to play an essential role in our work and home life. There’s no doubt they can be very helpful, especially GPS systems for finding our way while driving to a destination. But, we need to exercise some caution here. Richtel advises that each of us needs to find the line between technology informing us and from technology distracting us, impeding our productivity and even undermining our health. He points to research at Stanford showing the screen use can become addictive and that some heavy users of video games lose the ability to filter out irrelevant information.
Richtel says that many young people feel bored or even socially invisible if their mobile phone isn’t ringing or vibrating with a new text message. Thus they carry around tension until their device springs to life. It’s a sort of Pavlovian response. Just as Pavlov’s dogs waited eagerly for the bell to eat, many teens and twenty somethings wait eagerly for the dopamine blast they get from a ring of their cell phone. This is opposite of mindfulness – a state of relaxed, non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness is associated with mental health and happiness, whereas chronic tension can lead to anxiety and depression.
Richtel says it boils down to the idea of nourishment. Some foods, like Twinkies, are bad for us and others, like broccoli, are good for us. The old belief that all computer use is good for us has been disproven. I think it’s reasonable to say that a lot of the email we scroll through and read is junk, and that we could all live well with fewer text messages. Mental nourishment is one way to address this issue. Another way is through the concept of life balance. What is the best way to spend your time? Do you believe that having an undisturbed conversation with your spouse and kids is important? Do you believe that having an undisturbed walk in the park is important? Do you believe that quiet time for meditation, life reflection, prayer or even napping is important? Then balance out your life by spending less time on e-screens.
Being depressed is hard enough. You feel sad, inadequate and worthless. You feel as if nothing you’ve ever done, can do or will do matters. You don’t feel like getting up, eating, getting dressed, going outside, working or playing. You just want to stay in bed and sleep. You’re listless, apathetic and de-energized. But, to make matters worse, people who are severely depressed tend to feel a great deal of guilt. I know this only too well. I know it because I’ve been severely depressed and felt this guilt, and I know it because I have sat in groups of depressed adults who speak of feeling this guilt with shame and pain written all over their faces.
Our homes manifest the law of entropy. The moment we get the clothes washed, dried, folded, and put away, and kids’ things picked up off the floor, everything gets messy again. A few people I know (like my wife) can’t rest until their homes are clean, neat and well organized. Many of us (me included) look at home cleaning chores somewhat resentfully, wishing they would somehow take care of themselves and leave us alone.
Lawyers falsely believe they are the captain of their cognitive ship. They think they make their own decisions and are able to detect and resist influences on their decision making which come from circumstances or from other people. A variety of studies have come out showing that most of our decision making occurs beneath conscious awareness and that our decisions are frequently influenced by what other people say, how other people act or how other people manipulate circumstances. A lot of this information is presented in Kluge by Gary Marcus and How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, but new studies along these lines come out every day. Here are two.