Observing Our Relationships With Technology
How can we be more deliberate about where and how we channel attention to hone our “digital craft”?
A few weeks back, I had a chance to catch up with some friends from undergrad, most of whom I haven’t seen for over six years. Like most reunions with good friends, it didn’t feel like six years had passed. Yet, when I think of what our lives were like just six years ago, I quickly realize how much has changed. For starters, smartphones were only just gaining traction–Blackberrys were the rage back then. Out of those who had smartphones, only a small subset of them had mobile data. We used to navigate cities by planning our routes in advance if we had to look them up online or carry physical maps, if we weren’t one of the early adopters of the latest smartphones (with data). Outside the US, we had never heard of Netflix (it was also still a DVD rental service back then). We just had a lot less technology in our lives (which is not necessarily a good or bad thing); it was limited to our laptops and our phones.
Today, it’s everywhere. There’s so much more we can accomplish with the ubiquity of devices we have at our disposal. What concerns me, though, is how we use them. I think most of us still need to learn how to use these technologies well and do so in a deliberate manner.
In his book, Mindful Tech, David M. Levy talks about our use of digital tools as “craft”; a skill that needs to be cultivated over time with care and intention [1]. Like any other craft, it is something we ought to consciously try to get better at. I like this re-frame of the goal from getting things done to getting better at how we get things done–alluding to quality of the experience.
A big part of the quality of our digital experience appears to be tied to attention–how and where we direct it, be it consciously or unconsciously. When we multi-task, we force frequent shifts in our attention from one thing to another (contrary to what we tell ourselves, we’re not actually doing two things at once). Every time we shift our focus, we experience “switch costs” (the time it takes to re-focus on the new task) [2]. How often have you found yourself with a dozen tabs open on your browser, your email client, iMessage, and a few other staples running in the background as you attempt to get some “heads down” time? I’ve been there. If I’m not interrupted by something else, then I do it myself. Next thing I know, it’s been two hours and I haven’t started what I set out to do.
I think part of the issue is how seamless everything is. It’s so easy to flow from one task to another, from email to a funny video to our news feed. In this process we end up losing sight of our goals. Then, there’s the fact that there is no clear beginning and end; it’s just one lump of time. Without pausing to reflect on what we’re actually doing, we remain in our default, System 1 mode just going with the flow.
Reflection is going to be a key step in trying to improve our relationships with technology. A lot of Levy’s mindfulness exercises in his book also center around observation and reflection of our current digital practices. After all, we need to understanding what is happening in the first place.
So far, I’ve written about the issues around digital practices from the perspective of users. Now, putting on my designer’s hat, the big question is, how can technology be designed in service of the user’s wellbeing? This includes things like, the quality of their experience, intentional direction of focus and the space for reflection.
Here are some of the questions that I will be pondering about…
- Do people even care about their relationships with technology? Are they motivated to improve it?
- How aware are people of the effects of technology on their mental (e.g. emotions, thoughts, etc.) and physical state (e.g. headache, stomach clenching, etc.)?
- How might we observe people’s current digital practices and relationships with tech and transform them into preferred ones?
- What would it take to make someone look at their digital practice as a craft?
- What do people do when they feel an information overload?
- How does the idea of System 1 and 2 fit into this puzzle? How might kicking ourselves into System 2 mode enable reflect on where we are, the goals we’re working towards and re-alignment whenever we meander a too much?
Bibliography
[1] Mindful Tech by David M. Levy
[2] http://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask.aspx
[3] Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
