Our minds can be hijacked: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia - Paul Lewis (Guardian October 2017)

Extract

[...] Limiting these gadgets to certain hours of a day or even a week will definitely prove to be beneficial as the mind would have more time to absorb and retain non-technological knowledge; have the power to make individual decisions and the independence to perform as it pleases; otherwise, we would definitely become part of a dystopian world, sooner or later. Reference Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One's Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity (Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten W. Bos). [...]

[...] However, only one of this scientific research is from a credible source that states "Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity," (Brain Drain, 2017); research that affirms psychological and neurological influences of smartphones on the participants of the study. Overall, Lewis does a good job in creating an article that is informative, convincing and eye opening. In today's world, technology has become as addictive as heroin. Parents neglect their children for the sake of these smart gadgets; and children, in turn, neglect everything around them growing up to be dumb, uncreative adults with no individual identity to signify them. Conclusion The need of the moment, in conclusion, then, is to assess our use of smart gadgets. [...]

[...] As exhibited via Brexit and Donald Trump's rise, the digital world played a major role in shaping people's perceptions and luring them into this vicious circle of world politics. How do they keep you attracted? Lewis also outlines the strategies used to overpower people's minds such as the pull-to-refresh; a mechanism that refreshes the entire page pulling up new or other posts you may not have read and hence keeping you glued to your tablet / cell screen; and the red button, a tiny pop up attracting you towards itself and awakening curiosity regarding what notifications might be lurking inside the app this time. [...]

[...] Our minds can be hijacked: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia - Paul Lewis (2017) -These developers that created the current internet social environment and that have started to disconnect themselves from this environment. The article that appeared in "The Guardian", issue of Oct'17, titled as "Our minds can be hijacked: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia", written by Paul Lewis discusses how the masterminds behind the technological advances of social media have started to disconnect themselves from the very world that they have helped build up, out of fear of being sucked into the vortex of technology addiction. [...]

[...] Why would these genius minds disregard the things they created after years of hard work and sleepless nights? The answer is simple. We have become so addicted to these applications and digital lures that our psychology is getting badly affected. These technologists and psychologists believe that once we realize it, it will be too late to turn back. They explain how this digital world is being shaped to create a sense of reward and trigger among individuals all over the world. [...]