Are we too busy documenting our experiences with smart phones rather than living our experience?

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots” Albert Einstein was eventually credited for this quote but the origins of this quote and the connection to Albert Einstein was...
Are we too busy documenting our experiences with smart phones rather than living our experience?

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots”

Albert Einstein was eventually credited for this quote but the origins of this quote and the connection to Albert Einstein was done in a movie called Powder. In real life (despite many memes to the contrary depicting the great man) there is no evidence to support that Albert did actually say this.

However he did say

“Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.”

Which is more his speed. Is this great power and the advance of technology isolating us by creating virtual worlds we can get lost in? Look at Facebook – this is a virtual social world and chatting over Facebook can be more entertaining than going out for coffee with the same person. Why? Well there are no awkward pauses in conversation, if you have had enough you just sign off, other people can join in and if you have nothing really interesting to say you can always post a funny image or inspirational thought. And all of this can be done without the need to travel making the world a much smaller place, where friends are a click away.

When we are out in public smart phones allow us to create a barrier or buffer between what is actually happening and having to participate fully. We have become documenters of our own lives, storing and sharing our experiences online. But do we still live in the moment? Look at camera men that film dangerous events – while the camera is rolling and they are looking down the view finder their connection to the event is disconnected, as soon as they take a look with their naked eyes then they tend to be more able to recognise the depth of the poo that they are potentially facing.

The “I forgot my phone” movie was posted on Youtube last year that has gained some impressive viral stats 40,746,287 views 154,677 thumbs up and 10,682 thumbs down.
It is about a day in the life of girl who forgot her phone and how her interactions in her daily routine change as a result of this. Reports show that we spend an average of 3 hours per day with our smart phones that does not include taking or making calls. The bulk of this time is spent on Facebook, Social Media, reading emails and other social apps such as WhatsApp.

The conclusion reached by some was that this girl was able to experience a fuller day by not having a smart phone to distract her. Although in some scenes she just ends up looking either a bit bored or left out.

A comparison was drawn to people watching TV with the faces and posture looking like they are on pause and that smart phones are dumbing us down socially. But look at the awesome amount of information that these phones can bring to our fingertips. For example the Ted Talks – inspiring and educating people in short videos, Google +, Flipboard and of course we can always Google it!

In the end it is up to the user whether they use their smart phone as a tool to develop themselves, document their lives, get creative or to hide away from reality (well the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a ‘Life Companion” after all!).

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