Modern technology

Modern technology impacts our daily lives and affects our safety – and we let it.

Brace yourself for this next tidbit. In 2004 in the United States, an estimated 559 people had to seek medical help after smashing into stationary objects while simultaneously texting and walking. Since then the number has surged. In 2010, the number had climbed to a whopping 1,500. And these were only the incidents serious enough to require admission to medical centers.

Why do people put themselves in constant danger because of this behavior? You would think that no phone is that important.

It turns out that there are four factors at play which keep our eyes fixed on these screens: boredom, anxiety, accessibility and lack of metacognition.

Boredom decreases when people switch between tasks and information sources. That’s particularly true if you go from a work-related information stream to an “entertainment-related” one, like Facebook or YouTube.

Professor Leo Yeykelis proved this with his colleagues in a 2014 study at Stanford University. They equipped students with wrist sensors that used galvanic skin response (GSR) to monitor their arousal level while working on their computers at home. The researchers found that there was an observable increase in their arousal level just before they switched between tasks. It was most noticeable when they switched from work to entertainment-related tasks.

Anxiety levels also decrease when we change information feeds. We feel anxiety if we're unable to check our smartphones or social media. This has been termed FOMO or “fear of missing out,” and it can be observed in young adults if they go 15 minutes without looking at their smart devices. It’s this self-derived anxiety which causes us to interrupt ourselves.

Access to technology is nowadays more or less a given in most parts of the world. It’s like constantly having access to a never-ending box of chocolates – easy to overdo it. Smartphones, for example, are always connected to the internet, so email and the temptations of social media are just a finger tap away.

Finally, there’s metacognition or being aware of what your brain is up to. If you’re self-aware that you’re switching tasks, you’re less likely to become distracted. However, if you lack metacognition, then you’ll find it pretty hard to resist looking at your smartphone.

All this shows that we just don’t have the tools to confront the ever-expanding cornucopia of temptation that modern technology represents. We can’t seem to stop ourselves getting distracted. So what are we going to do about it?