It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push button finger. - Frank Llyod Wright
Einstine and Wright had some pretty strong thoughts about technology, thoughts that are particularly prescient since they were uttered decades before the invention of the Internet, the Smartphone and the iPad. Consider the following all too typical scenario.
The other night I went out to dinner and a movie. Dinner was at a popular local restaurant known for its chinese food and casual ambiance. As the waitress led us to our table, I couldn't help but notice how nearly every single person had a cell phone lying flat on the table right next to their dinner plate. Literally, it seemed as though most people were eating fish with a side of smartphone. As we ordered and ate, I watched diners continuously pick up the phones, tap some keys and put them back down, only to repeat the same action again and again. Younger people appeared to do this more often, but nearly everyone, young and old picked up their phone at least once during the meal. It felt like I was watching a room full of people enagaging in obsesessive compulsive behaviour.
The same scenes were witnessed at the movie theater also. When the movie ended, every single person immediately pulled out their phones, even before the credits started rolling, and scrolled through whatever it was that they had missed over the last 90 minutes. If I didn't know better I would say that many of the moviegoers were suffering from some form of attention-deficit disorder.
Where does this rapid influx of technology leave us as we cruise into the second decade of new millennium? What we are looking at is a new disorder, one that combines elements of many psychiatric maladies. Its the subject of a new book by Rosen Larry called iDisorder.
If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push button finger. - Frank Llyod Wright
Einstine and Wright had some pretty strong thoughts about technology, thoughts that are particularly prescient since they were uttered decades before the invention of the Internet, the Smartphone and the iPad. Consider the following all too typical scenario.
The other night I went out to dinner and a movie. Dinner was at a popular local restaurant known for its chinese food and casual ambiance. As the waitress led us to our table, I couldn't help but notice how nearly every single person had a cell phone lying flat on the table right next to their dinner plate. Literally, it seemed as though most people were eating fish with a side of smartphone. As we ordered and ate, I watched diners continuously pick up the phones, tap some keys and put them back down, only to repeat the same action again and again. Younger people appeared to do this more often, but nearly everyone, young and old picked up their phone at least once during the meal. It felt like I was watching a room full of people enagaging in obsesessive compulsive behaviour.
The same scenes were witnessed at the movie theater also. When the movie ended, every single person immediately pulled out their phones, even before the credits started rolling, and scrolled through whatever it was that they had missed over the last 90 minutes. If I didn't know better I would say that many of the moviegoers were suffering from some form of attention-deficit disorder.
Where does this rapid influx of technology leave us as we cruise into the second decade of new millennium? What we are looking at is a new disorder, one that combines elements of many psychiatric maladies. Its the subject of a new book by Rosen Larry called iDisorder.
