How did homo sapiens ever live without smartphones? Thousands of years went by with nothing more than wilderness and basic survival as homo sapiens’ sole means of entertainment. And as far as communication went, whispering, speaking and shouting were the the only means of conveying verbal messages. Earshot was the distance one human could communicate with another. Beyond that, two humans might as well have been living on different planets since they were essentially living separate, unconnected existences.
Many changes have taken place since our ancestors roamed the plains. Large-scale organization brought with it new ways to live. For instance, humans became more interconnected through cultural advances like agrarian societies. And, a corresponding need to communicate grew.
Communication methods evolved along with technology. Each new invention increased the distance over which humans could communicate. Once communication spanned the globe, the speed of communication became the goal. Faster was better.
Fast forward to today. We, as modern humans, are always connected. If we’re not sitting in front of an internet-connected computer, we’re connected wirelessly through a cellular network. Connections to the outside world are increasingly being made through smartphones or other web enabled wireless devices.
Web enabled phones put the world at our fingertips. Distance doesn’t matter. Everything, everywhere is now our business. We’re part of it in a voyeuristic sort of way.
An immediate environment is where we physically reside and a virtual environment exists where we observe and interact with the remote reality of others. Mentally, we are in two places at once.
In every aspect of life this has become a problem. Unlike in the past, when our attention was diverted changes in our immediate vicinity, our attention is diverted by a screen with moving images and sound.
In some situations, this diversion creates significant danger. When movement requires coordinated actions between parties, such as in driving or cycling, divided attention risks life and limb.
Even one distracted driver can be a menace on the road. Sitting behind the steering wheel of a several ton vehicle requires undivided attention. Yet undivided attention is a thing of the past. Everywhere you go, you see people with smartphones glued to their upward facing palms, eyes turned downward and thumb, thumbs or fingers swiping and tapping away.
In places where speed and large moving vehicles are not present, people assume this is harmless. Being absorbed in another world may seem like a personal thing, not something worthy of the disapproval of others.
But, really, it should be. The reason is that we co-exist in society. Therefore, we must consider the rights of others and how our actions will affect them.
Due to smartphone distractions people often obstruct others in the aisle of a store or on a public stairway. Since they are unaware of the people around them, they do not behave courteously and move out of the way.
People are forced to push by them or confront them to get them to move. This inconveniences others and creates hostility in otherwise innocuous settings.
The prevalence of such behavior is the issue. It’s not merely the use of smartphones that’s the problem, it’s how they are used in public — with total disregard for everyone around the smartphone user.
Despite the bans many cities and towns have placed on cell phone use while driving, not a day goes by when we don’t observe drivers talking into a cell phone plastered to their ear. Looking down while driving is also assumed to be a sign of smartphone use. Nine times out of ten if a driver’s gaze is lowered into the car, it’s to check a text message or use other features of a phone. Laws have not made a dent in this behavior.
So where does this leave us?
It’s hard to envision how a world full of people with divided attention can be a safe world. Driving with divided attention can lead to lost lives. Riding a bicycle with divided attention can lead to injuries or death to a rider, and occasionally to other cyclists or pedestrians in his path.
Shopping with divided attention can lead to injuries caused by running a shopping cart into another shopper or accidentally knocking into someone and causing her to tumble down an escalator (something I once witnessed). It can also cause checkout line delays resulting in missed appointments and spoiled frozen food.
Divided attention in a classroom can cause a student to miss critical information which might mean the difference between passing and failing in school. Attention divided too often in this manner can reduce one’s opportunities in the future.
Smartphones are here to stay. But we, as smartphone users can outsmart the phones. We don’t have to be tied to them 24/7. We can put them in a pocket or bag and let them answer for us. Auto-reply and voice mail are our friends.
Technology will allow us to receive emergency communications while weeding out non-urgent communications when we’re occupied with other things. And that is, in essence, the key — we are occupied with other things and should not have our eyes glued to our phones.
When enough anti-cell phone use laws have been enacted and enough people have been penalized for doing two things at once, there will be an incentive to stop living with divided attention. We were really not meant to multitask. We were meant to focus on one thing at a time. This is how our forebears survived to see another day.
Prudence in all things is wise. Let’s hope that after the novelty of smartphone use wears off, people conclude that they do not need to play with their phones at all times. Perhaps implementing a system of designated phone use times, instead, would solve the divided attention problem.
Answers, in such situations, are elusive. But things have a way of working themselves out, so it’s probably just a matter of time before divided attention becomes a thing of the past.
