As Things and devices become Smarter, are we getting dumber?
As Things and devices become Smarter, are we getting dumber?
“I fear the day when technology will surpass human interaction. We will have a generation of idiots.” — Albert Einstein
Are we becoming less smarter with each new technology that can think faster and take action more intuitively?
Yes, yes we are.
Do we care? If devices and now things are cutting down the time it takes for us to think, no we don’t. Everything from the personal computer to fitness applications have streamlined simple tasks, so why should we?
And that’s pretty disturbing.
However, keep in mind, innovations don’t happen because we want to do less — it’s because we want to fulfill needs.
Think about it. Would the x-ray machine have been invented if we didn’t need a non-invasive and pain free way to locate broken bones? It didn’t make us less smart. It just did something we, with our limited physical capabilities, couldn’t do.
To say that it is smart devices that have made us less intuitive is unreasonable. And in this post, we are going to discuss why.
1 — We can’t remember how we used to but technology is helping people who can’t at all
The telephone was invented to make long distance communication possible. We had to remember phone numbers but compared to what we could do with the invention then, this was a minor inconvenience.
Now, how many times have you had to whip out your smartphone to note a phone number because you just couldn’t bother to memorize it? The device knows it too. Its why you can copy and paste a phone number from your contacts. With features that remember things for us, we have now lost our responsibility to think and retain information.
But it was OUR responsibility, and it is WE who have lost it. To blame devices on our laziness is unfair.
To make the case for smart devices, consider innovations that are helping individuals who are already physically incapable of retaining memories due to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. A method using Artificial Intelligence is already helping researchers use deep learning techniques to come up with ways to prevent this condition.
2 — We are losing our ability to interact but it’s our own fault
Why talk when you can text? And who needs facial expressions when social media platforms like Messenger and WhatsApp have GIFS, emoticons and images that do that for you too? The irony is that in helping us express ourselves onscreen, we have lost our ability to emotionally connect in regular settings as efficiently as we did before a screen helped us do so.
When people stare down at their phones in a social setting, they make less eye contact with the people around them, which makes them seem unsociable. But again, whether you talk to other people or not is a matter of choice. You can choose not to pull out your phone, actually talk to the person sitting next to you and have a meaningful conversation.
But most of the time, we don’t. In fact, according to a study, smartphones are killing conversations. Another study affirms that our use of social media detracts us from face to face interactions and increases sedentary behavior.
Point being, to blame smart devices on our stubbornness is unreasonable.
While our some addiction to smart screens has made us unsociable, it’s also important to remember that smart devices are also helping people overcome speech problems. Consider the fact that Smart devices are helping Autistic kids communicate like a Smart drum that lets them interact by harmonizing rhythms with other children. Another device is Smartstones Touch, a stone like smart device that allows these kids to overcome communication challenges with the help of light, sound and vibration gestures.
3 — We are Procrastinating more because we have lost discipline
How much time do you spend checking and responding to personal WhatsApp messages on your smartphone at work? Every newsfeed we scroll through on social media, every game we play and every text we check on our devices consumes time; time that we should rather spend on being more productive in our daily lives.
According to a study, our cognitive capacities are greatly reduced when our phones are within eyeshot, even if they are face down and you can’t see the blinking light that tells you that you have a text.
That’s pretty sad. And it’s sad because we have lost control. To say that the smart devices we use are too distracting is an excuse. Using devices only when we must is a matter of discipline ourselves.
In the beginning of this post, we said that smart devices or any technology for that matter is created to address specific needs. The same applies to smart devices. There are certain applications that are specifically designed to help us avoid procrastination. The SelfControl web app for example lets you block your own access to websites that may distract you from being more productive like (social media websites or any other online content) until the time expires.
Wrapping Up
The verdict? Devices aren’t making us more stupid, we are just lazier. We aren’t as unsociable as we were before smartphones did our talking for us. It’s because our addiction to the screen gives us an excuse to avoid physical interactions. And it’s not devices that make us less productive; it’s because we lack the control to avoid distractions.