My brother-in-law, Paul, is a smart guy, and I think I know why. His phone is from the early 90’s. Seriously, George Washington sold him his Nokia on Ebay. When Paul and fam dropped in a week ago, we ribbed him mercilessly for extending an antenna to text. Not to mention the 20 minutes it took to send a text without a Qwerty board or even the once-cool-now-ancient T9 typing tool.
I’ve been musing about how my mind has been affected by smartphones. I obtained my first smartphone in 2004, a Nextel Blackberry with synced calendar and contact lists. Man, I thought I was the bomb (note subtle 2004 cool word reference). Can you remember when one layer of your coolness was defined by your polyphonic ringtones? Pull it back…digression…loss of attention…fuzzy focus. And, we’re back….Now I don’t think I could function without the Iphone. I find this a touch unsettling. Not that it’s a crime to be organized and keep up with email, but I am more interested in the reduction in ability to focus in general, remember phone numbers, appointments or even how to get to someone’s house.
I can remember the phone number and address of the house I lived in when I was seven. For Pete’s sake, I can remember the numbers to my closest grade school friends. But ask me to quote you my current friends’ numbers and I’m clueless. I simply pull their name up in my phone.
I have always prided myself in being able to drive somewhere one time and never forget the route. Yet, I’ve noticed a few times recently that I’ve forgotten how to find someone’s residence that I’ve visited a couple of times. I suppose it could be that I’m nearing 38 years of life, but I think it’s more closely related to the fact that I rely on my phone’s GPS to get me to unknown places and spend the travel time watching for turns instead of watching the environment.
There’s much to be said about the efficiency a smartphone offers and leaving space in the memory banks for “important” stuff. Perhaps the problem is not the amount of room for storage, or the access to the information (think Google’s infinite bucket of facts) but the act of processing the information that maintains mental acuity. Memorizing stretches the mind, whereas punching the number in the phone is data entry. Studying a map and testing alternate routes beefs up your knowledge base while following turn by turn instructions ensures you can follow simple cues. Congratulations on being qualified to be a lab rat.
So I don’t think my Iphone is reducing brain cells. But is my efficient workflow reducing my capability to negotiate challenges and aggregate complex information? I don’t know. Maybe I should steal Paul’s Nokia and allow the gray matter of my cerebral cortex to see some action. Simple but not easy.
Micah, Must agree as I’ve had to down grade to probably one the simplest phone I have ever owed. it’s certainly been a interesting adjustment already and I’ve only had it for a day.