A Supercomputer in My Pocket

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A Supercomputer in My Pocket

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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February 14, 2019 at 9:26 pm

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david.gugg SSCertifiable Points: 6098 More actions · Answer 1

With great power comes great responsibility. While having a computer in our pockets is ultra-convenient, it's also quite addictive, to the point that many people use it to escape reality. I see far too many parents staring at their 5" screens instead of interacting with their children. I see teenagers who are so attached to their screens that they lack the most basic of social skills. I see people who work WAY more than a healthy amount each day because they are so easily able to be pulled back into it via their smartphones. I see myself playing games or checking facebook when I should be reading a real book or reflecting on my day.
I put this in the category of just because we can doesn't mean we should. The cost of all our extra efficiency is a general dumbing down of our society as well as an increasingly isolated population. While we've been able to do some amazing things with handheld computers, the damage to our society has not been worth it.

Be still, and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10

ZZartin SSC-Dedicated Points: 30920 More actions · Answer 2

Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Nope someone liked my twitter post.

greg.lovekamp Newbie Points: 5 More actions · Answer 3

david.gugg - Friday, February 15, 2019 7:20 AM
With great power comes great responsibility. While having a computer in our pockets is ultra-convenient, it's also quite addictive, to the point that many people use it to escape reality. I see far too many parents staring at their 5" screens instead of interacting with their children. I see teenagers who are so attached to their screens that they lack the most basic of social skills. I see people who work WAY more than a healthy amount each day because they are so easily able to be pulled back into it via their smartphones. I see myself playing games or checking facebook when I should be reading a real book or reflecting on my day.
I put this in the category of just because we can doesn't mean we should. The cost of all our extra efficiency is a general dumbing down of our society as well as an increasingly isolated population. While we've been able to do some amazing things with handheld computers, the damage to our society has not been worth it.

The phrase "a real book" disturbs me: what defines "real"? Does it have to be "War & Peace" or a factual biography? Does it have to be paper or is electronic acceptable? Is it valuable because it is a written form, and are not video presentations an acceptable form of communication? One should not value a particular medium simply because of the medium.

I am also concerned by the phrase "dumbing down of our society" since it implies people have less knowledge than before. Quite the opposite, people have access to vastly more information than ever; unfortunately, there is a process of converting information to knowledge than many are not interested in doing. Jacques Cousteau once used the phrase "information pollution" to describe the situation which has only exponentially grown worse since his time. More effort is required to separate valuable information from "noise." When your world facts are limited, it is much easier to become a master of them; hence our society's current path of determining information that doesn't fit one's own world view as "fake."

The illusion is that the "dumb" seem dumber because the "smart" were less smart in the past. I am opposed to blaming "handheld computers", when reality is that our society has just continually given a pass to those who refuse to reason through cause-effect relationships. My children were taught that actions have consequences. Get everybody on that same, elementary page, then we can worry about tool choices.

mjh 45389 SSCertifiable Points: 5706 More actions · Answer 4

david.gugg - Friday, February 15, 2019 7:20 AM
With great power comes great responsibility. While having a computer in our pockets is ultra-convenient, it's also quite addictive, to the point that many people use it to escape reality. I see far too many parents staring at their 5" screens instead of interacting with their children. I see teenagers who are so attached to their screens that they lack the most basic of social skills. I see people who work WAY more than a healthy amount each day because they are so easily able to be pulled back into it via their smartphones. I see myself playing games or checking facebook when I should be reading a real book or reflecting on my day.
I put this in the category of just because we can doesn't mean we should. The cost of all our extra efficiency is a general dumbing down of our society as well as an increasingly isolated population. While we've been able to do some amazing things with handheld computers, the damage to our society has not been worth it.

I recently saw Clint Eastwood's new film "The Mule". This mocked mobile phone addiction in places. The one that really made me laugh was when he asked someone "Don't you know how to change a wheel?" and got the reply "No. I am Googling it but can't get a signal!".

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736255 More actions · Answer 5

The mobile phone usage, or overusage, is interesting in ways. On one hand, that access to information is amazing. On the other, this does mean we sometimes create new critical thinking skills. Now we need to learn how to find and evaluate sources and data better, without really remembering the actual data.

Not sure it's good or bad, and certainly we have some social adjustment/adaptation to make with culture. I do try to put mine down more and more, except for reading. Rather than trying to keep a couple books in my bag, I just read on my phone.

Surprising, as I changed phones, I put less apps on the new one. Using fewer and fewer, even less browser/news time has been nice.

david.gugg SSCertifiable Points: 6098 More actions · Answer 6

greg.lovekamp - Friday, February 15, 2019 9:42 AM
The phrase "a real book" disturbs me: what defines "real"? Does it have to be "War & Peace" or a factual biography? Does it have to be paper or is electronic acceptable? Is it valuable because it is a written form, and are not video presentations an acceptable form of communication? One should not value a particular medium simply because of the medium.
I am also concerned by the phrase "dumbing down of our society" since it implies people have less knowledge than before. Quite the opposite, people have access to vastly more information than ever; unfortunately, there is a process of converting information to knowledge than many are not interested in doing. Jacques Cousteau once used the phrase "information pollution" to describe the situation which has only exponentially grown worse since his time. More effort is required to separate valuable information from "noise." When your world facts are limited, it is much easier to become a master of them; hence our society's current path of determining information that doesn't fit one's own world view as "fake."
The illusion is that the "dumb" seem dumber because the "smart" were less smart in the past. I am opposed to blaming "handheld computers", when reality is that our society has just continually given a pass to those who refuse to reason through cause-effect relationships. My children were taught that actions have consequences. Get everybody on that same, elementary page, then we can worry about tool choices.

There are two reasons I made that point about a "real" book. First is that reading exercises the brain. You can get the same information from video presentations, but you will retain it better if you read it. You can stop to consider the implications of what you've read, which often isn't realistic when viewing a video presentation. Second is the content. I fear our smartphones are most conducive to short articles that can't provide depth on a lot of subjects. There is certainly something different between reading War & Peace and reading a set of online articles about the effects of the French invasion of Russia in the 1800s. While there may be some who read full books on their smartphones, I would hypothesize most of us are reading selected articles that interest us and mostly just reinforce the perspectives we already hold.
In terms of dumbing down our society, I agree that we have more knowledge than ever but I would also hypothesize we increasingly have the worst critical thinking skills ever. Instead of working to gain knowledge, we pull it up on our screen, spout it out, and forget it minutes later. I believe this matches what you have stated on the subject, but I stand by my assertion that handheld computers have enabled the masses our society to avoid regular critical thinking.
Just a note, I'm speaking about broad social trends, not specific individuals. I would guess most who read this do regular analysis as part of their jobs, so many would not fall into these trends.

Be still, and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736255 More actions · Answer 7

I have no idea whether most people read books or articles on phones, but I would guess articles as well. However, the Kindle created a whole ecosystem of people that consume books electrically, as digital books, not physical ones. I have hundred of books on my Kindle account and others I know do as well.

The movement from long form reading started a long time ago and has nothing to do with smartphones, and more to do with the growth of video as an alternative mechanism of consuming information.

WilliamCaton Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 550 More actions · Answer 8

Amen. I find technology to be a blessing in some contexts, but a curse in others. Every time there is a power outage I am reminded of how dependent we have become on "technology" and have lost many of the arts of yesterday. People got along acceptably w/o it for a long time. A caveat, of course, is the advances in health related things that technology has generally helped with.