Matthew B. Crawford thinks our culture has become distracted (and in some cases, brain-dead). Smartphones aren’t making us smarter, Crawford argues. They’re reducing out attention span and preventing us from thinking clearly. I found Crawford’s analysis persuasive. My students are constantly texting. When Diane and I go out to a restaurant, almost all the diners have their smartphones on their tables (and check them frequently). A recent survey found students check their smartphones 700 times per day. All of this has consequences in the Real World and Crawford shows where this is leading. World Beyond Your Head is a disturbing book. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface p. ix
Introduction: Attention as a Cultural Problem p. 3
Part I Encountering Things
1 The Jig, the Nudge, and Local Ecology p. 31
2 Embodied Perception p. 45
3 Virtual Reality as Moral Ideal p. 69
4 Attention and Design p. 79
5 Autism as a Design Principle: Gambling p. 89
Interlude: A Brief History of Freedom p. 113
Part II Other People
6 On Being Led Out p. 127
7 Encountering Things with Other People p. 141
8 Achieving Individuality p. 151
9 The Culture of Performance p. 161
10 The Erotics of Attention p. 169
11 The Flattening p. 181
12 The Statistical Self p. 195
Part III Inheritance
13 The Organ Makers’ Shop p. 209
Epilogue: Reclaiming the Real p. 247
Notes p. 259
Acknowledgments p. 285
Index p. 289
It’s not just kids: even people in our age group (who really should know better) are always distractedly checking their phones, updating their Facebook pages, and obsessively pursuing the next conspiracy theory/cancer cure-all/celebrity Instagram photos. We’re well on the way to becoming like the people in Philip K. Dick’s UBIQ: frozen in our individual chambers while our brains run from one neural path to another.
/And, yes, I am aware of the irony of me saying all this using a smart phone connected to the internet!
Deb, the technology is changing all of us…and not in a Good Way.
Sad but true. On the subway last night there was a guy who amazed Jackie by texting at the speed of lightning, barely having to look at the screen.
It really made me feel OLD.
And keep off my lawn.
Jeff, I’m convinced guys like that guy on the subway (and my constantly texting students) will be suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome in the future.
Yet another reason I refuse to join Facebook. My brother and one of my sisters spend approximately 23 hours a day on there.
Jeff, I know people who are addicted to Facebook. Their whole life is there.
We’re convinced my sister won’t even look for a job because she’s glued to the screen 24/7. And she isn’t a kid either; she’s over 50.
Jeff, our Computer Labs open at 7 A.M. Every morning there’s a crowd of students waiting to get in. Some of them stay in the Computer Lab all day long updating Facebook and sending texts until the Computer Lab closes…at 10 P.M.!
There are many reasons I don’t have Facebook, but one of the prime reasons is that people share absolutely everything. No thanks, I like to keep some information to myself. And I’ve known friendships fall apart when one person doesn’t accept the other’s friend request. What are we–in junior high?
Deb, I think the Internet and Facebook can bring out the worst in people: addictive behaviors, anti-social behaviors, and obsessive/compulsive behaviors.
If a person checks the cell phone 700 times a day and spends 15 seconds on it, that comes out to almost 3 hours a day! (If my math is right). That’s time that’s not spent on anything else, especially anything more useful or productive. I realize a smart phone is a tool, or should be, but that sounds more like an addiction. Meanwhile people become more insular and often more lonely. Facebook seems to only make it worse, as noted by others, above, and when that’s added in that 15 seconds I posited becomes a lot more time.
I probably spend an hour a day on the laptop/iMac/iPad, looking at blogs, checking my calendar, reading and sending email, working on my own blog. I rarely text, maybe a half dozen times in a week, if that. Id rather be reading, or out in the garden, or thing a walk.
Rick, your math is right: 3 hours a day checking a cell phone is commonplace for many people. The “tool” has become a “crutch.”
Rick, I generally spend an hour or two in the morning checking newspapers and blogs. When we’re out – like now – I will check the phone for new emails and check the blogs, but that only takes a few minutes. If we’re eating out, as we do, I will check for emails after we finish eating.
I almost NEVER text, only occasionally with my siblings, all of whom are on the West Coast.
I like the smartphone as an all-in-one convenient tool. I get updates from the local ABC news station.
I was shocked when my son exhibited total addiction to his smartphone. He was never one for any of the other technology. Maybe something in technology attracts each of us and it is hopeless.
Patti, there was a marketing study done 10 years ago. College students were asked what was most important to them. Their answer was “BEER.” Last year, college students were asked what was most important to them. Their answer: “MY CELL PHONE.”
Would you people keep it down, for Pete’s sake. I’m trying to get my latest Facebook messages here.