Cell phones and The Inability to Focus

Ever since the American Industrial Revolution, Americans have felt compelled to have the most luxurious cars, houses, and clothes. We unconsciously felt that our self-worth was directly connected to our bank accounts, and that our image was better or worse depending on how fancy our cars and clothes were. As one Wall Street banker bluntly said, “Net worth equals self-worth.” Many new happiness studies have suggested that Americans have built this false notion that happiness is created by consuming more than your neighbors. This is still true today. However, there is an attention addiction that is replacing the consumption addiction.

Many Americans from all age brackets believe that their self-worth is directly dependent on how much attention they receive through the cyber world. Presently, Americans have become more addicted to being online than any other nation. Blackberries, I phones, Androids, and Nokias, have become our drug that always allows us to exit the reality we are in now, to enter into the cyber world. These smart phones keep people connected to the news, social networks, friends, and work twenty four hours a day, every day. Nowadays, you can’t even take a quite walk on a beautiful summer day without feeling your pants vibrating to alert you that someone five seconds ago posted a funny comment on last weekend’s parties. I see everyday people who can’t even think if they forget their cell phone at home. They typically say “my whole life is on that thing, I need to be connected.” It's a sad shame that Americans cannot live in the moment. We not only cannot focus in reality, but we feel as if we don’t get constant stimulation through the web, that we are nobody, that nobody cares about us.

Smart phones have created a sense of insecurity in virtually everybody that has one. Personally, if I don’t receive a text message at least once a hour, I feel as if nobody cares about me, and that nobody is thinking about me. I am not alone. In fact, if you just watch people around you, you will see that anyone with a smart phone is constantly checking it, regardless if they have a new message. If you are sitting in a class, or eating at a restaurant, just watch people. People will slyly pull their phone out from their pants just to see if they have a new message. The unfortunate thing is that many people check their phones to see if they have a message even if they know they don’t have one. They stare at the screen waiting for it to vibrate. They wait for it to let them know that someone is thinking about them. This insecurity is unfolding a variety of problems that we may not know the deep side affects until more studying has been done. But from simple observation of addicted cell phone people, we can see one major problem that is affecting the foundation of society.

The largest problem that is due to cell phone and internet addiction is the inability to focus. When I am at the library, I see students who try to read a book, but after every few pages, they check their cell phone and fire a text. How can one truly become involved in a book, follow its arguments, and create one’s own analysis if their train of thought is consistently broken by an incoming text? There have been many studies that suggest that addiction to text messaging is creating focusing disorders in children in young ages that are lasting all throughout their life. The inability to focus can pervade all aspects of our life. When people drive, they text. When they are at dinner, they text. And when they are just relaxing, they text.

Even the most ancient and spontaneous art we call conversation is slowly eroding because of cell phone and internet addiction. Before the day of cell phones, people would all sit around a delicious meal, a fire, or under the moon to discuss anything on their mind. Conversations would take turns, and interesting antidotes would fill the air. Everyone participating in the conversation was focused on the words flowing from the speaker. And everyone was thinking hard to put in their insightful input. But now, if a group of people are in a conversation, you can almost be guaranteed that people will come in and out of the conversation depending on when and who they get text from.

Sometimes you may be telling a story that people would typically find interest in, but while you are telling it, you see them reaching down towards their pants or purse to take out their phone to quickly check an unnecessary message. Then after they check it, they attempt to rejoin the conversation as if they never left. But you can tell that they missed important parts, and your feelings are also probably hurt because they felt that their little text message was more important than your personal story. My grandfather recently confessed “conversations used to be lucid memories like a movie with no commercials and advertisements, but now they are broken and fragmented like a short sitcom with plenty of commercials and advertisements.”