Table Of ContentAlan J. Reid
THE SMARTPHONE PARADOX
Our Ruinous Dependency
in the Device Age
The Smartphone Paradox
Alan J. Reid
The Smartphone
Paradox
Our Ruinous Dependency in the Device Age
Alan J. Reid
Department of English
Coastal Carolina University
Conway, SC, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-94318-3 ISBN 978-3-319-94319-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94319-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950470
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
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C
ontents
1 Introduction 1
A Plea for Awareness 4
You Are Your Phone 13
Kranzberg’s First Law of Technology 22
References 31
2 A Brief History of the Smartphone 35
Hello, World 39
Ubiquitous Devices 48
Smartphone Hysteria 52
References 62
3 Habit-Making Devices 67
Habit, Compulsion, and Addiction 71
Checking Habits 81
Phone Psychosis 89
References 98
4 Use. Gratify. Repeat. 105
Instant Gratification 107
The How and the Why 115
News.0 124
References 134
v
vi CONTENTS
5 O utsourcing Memory 141
The Degeneration Generation 145
Just Google It 155
Are We Dumb? 163
References 172
6 Digital Socialites 177
On Being Nowhere 181
Oversharing 188
#Slacktivism 196
References 203
7 Going Dark 209
Privacy and Surveillance 211
The Technoself 218
In Defense of Boredom 226
References 232
8 Conclusion 235
Mindfulness 237
Device Legislation 242
A New Generation 249
References 256
Index 259
L i
ist of mages
Image 1.1 The broad view of theoretical stances on technology.
Source: Author 28
Image 2.1 The technology adoption life cycle. Source: Jurgen Appelo
(Appelo, Jurgen. “Innovation adoption curve.” Flickr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurgenappelo/5201275209.
Accessed 4 Mar 2018) 50
Image 3.1 A visualization for the hierarchy of behaviors. Source: Author 72
Image 5.1 The Dunning-Kruger effect shows how confidence and
competence intersect. Source: Author 166
Image 7.1 Me with my oldest daughter, Stella, heading out for a surf
session. Source: Author 219
Image 7.2 My oldest son, Phoenix: a surfer in training. Source: Author 220
vii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
“As much as I dislike to admit it, my smartphone plays quite a large role
in my daily life. Whatever is going on, on my phone, that becomes the
priority subconsciously. I feel that I am expected to quickly respond to
texts, social media notifications, and phone calls, and as a result, I fre-
quently check my phone to make sure that I am not missing anything or
disappointing anyone. I’ll be looking at my phone and think to myself,
why am I on it right now?” These are the words of Sarah V., a 20-year-old
college undergraduate, who embodies the characteristics of a typical
smartphone user on campus. She was responding to my interview ques-
tion: “Can you describe the degree to which your smartphone plays a role
in your life?” In this particular study, I was investigating the relationship
between smartphone usage and the psychological traits of narcissism and
exhibitionism. What I uncovered was far more peculiar. I found that many
smartphone users are critically self-aware of their technological habits, and
yet they grapple internally with what can be described as the smartphone
paradox: that this mobile device is simultaneously liberating yet control-
ling, unifying yet polarizing. It is that phrase, “Smartphone Paradox,” that
was chosen for the title of this book because it accurately captures how our
smartphones function in ways that are incongruous with our beliefs. We
perceive our devices to foster communication (when they likely alienate us
socially), boost our knowledge (when they likely substitute knowledge for
information), and increase our efficiency and productivity (when they
likely distract and impede). Sarah’s response to my question, which is
© The Author(s) 2018 1
A. J. Reid, The Smartphone Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94319-0_1
2 A. J. REID
representative of so many others, recognizes the many communicative
affordances of her smartphone, but she does so with a slight disdain for it.
Many of us can relate to her sentiment. Our smartphones enhance us by
providing connection to others and access to information, but at the same
time, they tether us to unrealistic digital expectations.
We often check our phones unwittingly in hopes of being gratified
instead of making deliberate choices to use our smartphones to satisfy a
specific need. Researchers often analogize this behavior to that of pulling
a lever on a slot machine. To some degree, the dopamine rush that is trig-
gered by checking our smartphones is not unlike that seen in gambling or
heavy drug use, where immediate reinforcement perpetuates behavior
through a reward-based learning process. In his book, The Craving Mind,
Judson Brewer summarizes this habit loop as “Trigger. Behavior. Reward.”1
Our smartphone might trigger us with a notification sound or a vibration,
which preempts our behavior to check the phone, and we are subsequently
rewarded either positively or negatively, further strengthening this cycle
each time. We often turn to our devices for a gratification payoff that aug-
ments our indulgences. Henry David Thoreau aptly surmised this para-
doxical condition in Walden, first published in 1854: “Men have become
tools of their tools.”2 More than 160 years later, there is a cognitive dis-
sonance that persists between us and our mobile devices, in which we pos-
sess both an awareness of our smartphone dependence and an inability, or
perhaps an unwillingness, to regulate our desire to obtain technological
gratifications. Our love affair with smartphones has catapulted us towards
a technological crescendo—not unlike Gutenberg’s printing press—where
humanity is collectively transformed in both positive and negative ways.
Admittedly, this book presents a highly critical perspective of technol-
ogy. I recognize that I emphasize the negative consequences of smart-
phone use and discount its positivity. And perhaps this one-sidedness
explains why critics of technology often are dismissed as out-of-touch
fogies who are resistant to change. Certainly, for every disruptive technol-
ogy, there are alarmists. Sometimes, though, these cynics turn out to be
right. I believe this to be one of those times. The price tag of digital tech-
nology is that it consequently deprives us of important thought processes.
Famed media theorist Marshall McLuhan writes about this as being an
1 Brewer, Judson. 2017. The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love—Why
We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
2 Bode, C. (Ed.). 1974. The Portable Thoreau. New York: The Viking Press, Inc.
INTRODUCTION 3
amputation of technology; while advancements in technology can extend
our ability in one sense, it does so by compromising another. In other
words, technology giveth and taketh away. This book underscores that
which is taketh away.
Readers of this book will have very different relationships with their
smartphones, ranging from the indifferent and casual smartphone user to
the transfixed and addicted. Although to varying degrees, it is undeniable
that the smartphone has had indelible effects on the ways that we act,
think, and feel. I suspect that you might already agree with this statement
in some capacity, and so in that regard, this book might only reaffirm what
you already believe. But if you are skeptical that the smartphone has fun-
damentally shifted our personal and societal behaviors, I hope that this
book will convince you otherwise. In full disclosure, this is not a self-help
book. I do offer some actionable solutions for technological rehabilita-
tion, but it is not an exhaustive list. There is a plethora of media (books,
websites, videos, podcasts, etc.) aimed at helping you improve your tech-
nological self, and you should consult those resources for mindfulness
strategies that work best for you. Instead, this book will give a brief history
of the smartphone (Chap. 2), deconstruct why we use smartphones in the
ways that we do (Chaps. 3 and 4), identify the ruinous effects that occur
as a result of our smartphone dependency (Chaps. 5 and 6), and examine
the ways in which we are combating invasive technology moving forward
(Chaps. 7 and 8).
Writing a book about technology can be dangerously modish. Books
are a permanent medium, and technology is fleeting. Like architecture,
fashion, and music, technology is always evolving, and so writing about a
particular device or technology is ephemeral. (I doubt you would be read-
ing this book if it were titled The Flip-Phone Paradox.) That is why I ask
that you read this book through the lens of smartphones but grant that
this is a broader metaphorical framework applicable to all personal and
mobile technologies, even if they have not yet been conceptualized or
developed. This is a book about dependence on and gratification by our
digital tools. Smartphones happen to be the vehicle for this book, but as
we embark on wearable and implantable technology, screen-free devices,
and neuromedia, the thesis remains the same: that which we invest of
ourselves in technology is that which is lost.
