>> The saying "It's always darkest before the dawn" rings truer than ever before. It's difficult to be optimistic during this time of our lives; I'm watching the world burn just like everyone else. <<
It's true in social terms, because humanity has safety catches. When things get to a certain point, the emergency features activate to change a bad situation. So for instance, an oppressive regime can only get so far before the rioting starts.
Climate change is dicier. Humanity has survived some previous, very dramatic ones. Downside is, climate change is also one of the leading causes of civilization collapse.
>> But, I have been keeping an eye on a few things, and one of them is the trend with people balancing out their smartphone use, or dropping it entirely and using a "dumbphone" instead, with real life. <<
That's encouraging -- if it's permitted to continue. The market has a tendency to quit supplying things so that people no longer have alternatives, at least not without major lifestyle changes.
>> With all these studies and even videos discussing how these devices are manufactured to grab our attentions <<
It's just like any other habit-forming thing; it hijacks the survival circuits of the brain, and certain other things like the pleasure/reward system. But like drugs, the pleasure burst from playing on the phone is illusory. It doesn't create genuine accomplishments. So if your life contains more concrete sources of safety, affection, pleasure, etc. then the artificial ones don't compete very well. And if you know all this, you quickly become suspicious of products that manipulate your brain and feelings that way. Things that other people find appealing are often downright off-putting for me, and a smartphone is only one example.
>> The last point about "before adopting a new piece of technology, see how much harm it does than good" is a good piece of advice. I wish more people start thinking this way sooner rather than later.<<
Most people learn it only after they've been burned. It's the same with things like "If you don't have a hardcopy in your house, you don't own the thing," with cloud storage or streaming services. People are shocked and upset when a ton of stuff they've bought suddenly disappears. Me, I'm enough of an archivist to understand that ephemera don't last, regardless of their form. You want something to last, fire it on a clay tablet and drop it in a landfill where archaeologists will know to look for it.
This is one of many things I'm deeply grateful to the Amish for providing. Honestly at this point, I like going there because it's familiar and not changing at warp speed like most places. A touchstone of things that are real and important. So when I shop in those stores, it's not just a purchase, it's a deliberate investment in a way of life and a worldview that I value, even though I don't live it all the time myself.
Re: Thoughts
It's true in social terms, because humanity has safety catches. When things get to a certain point, the emergency features activate to change a bad situation. So for instance, an oppressive regime can only get so far before the rioting starts.
Climate change is dicier. Humanity has survived some previous, very dramatic ones. Downside is, climate change is also one of the leading causes of civilization collapse.
>> But, I have been keeping an eye on a few things, and one of them is the trend with people balancing out their smartphone use, or dropping it entirely and using a "dumbphone" instead, with real life. <<
That's encouraging -- if it's permitted to continue. The market has a tendency to quit supplying things so that people no longer have alternatives, at least not without major lifestyle changes.
>> With all these studies and even videos discussing how these devices are manufactured to grab our attentions <<
It's just like any other habit-forming thing; it hijacks the survival circuits of the brain, and certain other things like the pleasure/reward system. But like drugs, the pleasure burst from playing on the phone is illusory. It doesn't create genuine accomplishments. So if your life contains more concrete sources of safety, affection, pleasure, etc. then the artificial ones don't compete very well. And if you know all this, you quickly become suspicious of products that manipulate your brain and feelings that way. Things that other people find appealing are often downright off-putting for me, and a smartphone is only one example.
>> The last point about "before adopting a new piece of technology, see how much harm it does than good" is a good piece of advice. I wish more people start thinking this way sooner rather than later.<<
Most people learn it only after they've been burned. It's the same with things like "If you don't have a hardcopy in your house, you don't own the thing," with cloud storage or streaming services. People are shocked and upset when a ton of stuff they've bought suddenly disappears. Me, I'm enough of an archivist to understand that ephemera don't last, regardless of their form. You want something to last, fire it on a clay tablet and drop it in a landfill where archaeologists will know to look for it.
This is one of many things I'm deeply grateful to the Amish for providing. Honestly at this point, I like going there because it's familiar and not changing at warp speed like most places. A touchstone of things that are real and important. So when I shop in those stores, it's not just a purchase, it's a deliberate investment in a way of life and a worldview that I value, even though I don't live it all the time myself.