Escapism & Algorithms: How Technology is Ruining your Life
How technology is tricking us into using it to satisfy our need for self-fulfillment
When I was a university student, I remember being on a campus shuttle bus, putting my phone down, and seeing my peers hunched over their screens.
By my junior year of college, I was haunted by the idea that my phone was occupying a large portion of my time.
I made the conscious effort to put my addictive device away.
I would not check my phone for my entire time on campus until I got home — but it wasn't easy.
I felt like an alien on a foreign planet as I saw my peers’ eyes glued to their phones. Social pressure was coming at me from every angle — especially at a time in my life where I was generally susceptible to it.
I had recently been in a zombified trance like they were now, and I knew how tempting it was to sneak a look at my phone. I knew how depressed and anxious this constant need to check and be updated was. I had to do away with it.
It dawned on me that our cell-phone usage might have longer-term consequences than just wasting time here and there.
