Smart phones are
useful, but they can become a crutch that keeps us from getting in
touch with our creative side and distances us from other people.
Zomorodi, host of WNYC Studio’s ‘Not to Self,’ realized that
being constantly plugged in to her smart phone was keeping her from
doing other things, like thinking. She wondered if other people had
the same problem. She got her answer when she offered her listeners a
series of experiments to help them get away from their phones and
hundreds of people signed up.
The book describes
the experiments and encourages the reader to try them. One of my
favorites was deleting an app you’re spending too much time on.
Zamorodi was addicted to Two Dots. It wasn’t easy to delete the
app, but it was remarkable how much time she had to think when when
she wasn’t glued to the device.
The book also
contains information she gathered from neuroscientists and cognitive
psychologists. The research is discussed in the chapter which is most
closely related to the experiment being described.
I don’t have a
particularly bad phone habit, but I found the exercises helpful. Some
of the research is well worth reading. You know that people aren’t
really paying attention to you when their eyes keeping straying to
their smart phone. Just the presence of the smart phone in viewing
range can reduce the empathy between friends. I recommend this book
if you want to cut your phone dependence, or if you’re interested
in the psychology of phone use.
I received this book
from Net Galley for this review.
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