Intuition or your iPhone? That was the question raised in the first instalment of this Unplugged Series.
Are we using technology, or is technology using us? This was what we have reflected on since the second piece to this Series.
In part three, the theme is choice; and how this is the most significant aspect of utilising technology responsibly and consciously.
In a book titled: Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, Adam Alter radically shifts our perceptions towards technology; in particular, the social media platforms, mobile applications and the software within our smart phones.
Alter outlines the millions of dollars spent on engineering these to be as addictive and attention capturing as possible. That’s because the longer a user spends engaging with a platform, the more money the platform is able to indirectly generate.
This makes sense when we recall the last time we found ourselves in line at a café; whipping out our phone and loosing ourselves in our Facebook feeds, while our coffee sat cooling, uncollected at the counter.
We may remember sitting for a minute to do a quick round on our socials and an hour later we find ourselves down an Instagram rabbit hole, double tapping and swiping, totally unaware of our reactions.
Many of us have sat fixated on our laptops, while YouTube’s auto play feature continues to deliver us with click bait, perfectly catered to our viewing preferences, as the morning sun breaks over the horizon.
The pattern is similar in each of these examples: we were unaware of what we were doing – and therefore, we were not consciously choosing how to spend our time.
Understand: these tech companies and software engineers are simply doing their job and maximising profit – as any successful business would. Again, this is done by capturing and sustaining our attention.
But regardless of the expert engineering of our iPhone applications; the hormonal hijacking and dopamine hits of a new notification; or the colours on websites specifically selected to draw our gaze towards the screen; we ultimately must decide how and when to spend our time, if we are to utilise technology responsibly and consciously.
Perhaps blaming tech companies for capturing our attention (and doing their job) is not the solution. Maybe it is time to do our job – to take responsibility for our actions and make conscious choices as to how we spend our time on these platforms.
True, our decisions are being influenced by tech companies to maximise our time on these devices. This has been proven now on numerous occasions.
But ultimately still, we choose to pick up the phone.
Your relationship with technology will be of paramount significance as the world becomes increasingly digitised, and if we are yet to learn that we have a choice, we may become totally absorbed before we realise this.
P.S. If you haven’t already, check out The Social Dilemma on Netflix. Everyone is talking about it for a reason.
CHANGE IS THE POINT 