The speed, efficiency, convenience and cost savings of smartphones are a blessing. But sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.
Check these facts out:
People check their smartphones an average of 150x a day, about 11x every hour we are awake.
We touch our phones an average of 2,617x a day. That’s counting every click, type, tap and swipe.
A survey found out that adults between the ages of 18 and 55 are spending 30% of their leisure time online.
Kids are spending an average of more than 7 1/2 hours a day using electronic media, which includes TV, the internet, video games and mobile devices. Kids are plugged into some kind of electronic device for more than 53 hours a week – more time than most adults spend at work.
Children who are heavy media users tend to have lower grades than those who are light users.
More than 90% of all 12- to 17-year-olds now own smartphones, but not for talking much.
Half of all teens send 50 or more texts a day.
One in three sends more than 100 text messages a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.
34% of cell-owning teens aged 16 to 17 admit that they text while driving.
Over half say they have been in a car while the driver was texting.
Although traditional television consumption peaked between 2009 and 2010, research shows that, even as internet use has gone up, TV viewing has only declined by about 60 minutes. The time we spend in front of the tv is still around 8 hours per household per day (not including television programs watched online).
People spending time online are at least reading. That should be good. But studies show that most of the reading we do on the internet is pretty shallow. We skim, scroll or hypertext from page to page.
Some argue that these links save time and facilitate learning. But Psychologists say readers on the internet are distracted and overstimulated by hypermedia. We give less attention to what we read and remember less of it.
Books, including e-books, require calm, focused, undistracted concentration that allows ideas to germinate and take hold.
This kind of reading enhances and refines our experience of the world. It strengthens our ability to think abstractly. Deep reading requires the time and attention that cultivates an educated mind. Yet data shows that people spend around just 20 minutes a day reading printed matter of any kind.
For many, the digital revolution has put the computer, desktop, laptop and handheld, in control. Walk the streets and you will see people around with eyes down, thumbs on tiny keyboards.
But you have a choice. Simply hit the off button and pay attention to something or someone else, at least for a while.
Take a break, log off and live.
Sven Franssen