Screensaving

As a child, I was regularly reminded that if I watched television for too long, I'd get 'square eyes'.  I had not come across anyone with this unfortunate condition (and have yet to do so) but, having been a visually impaired wearer of glasses since I was just 4, I was keen to avoid it. 

 

Television has not featured prominently in my adult life.  On leaving school, my televising declined rapidly.  As a student I never bought myself a television and, I'm rather pleased to say, still haven't.  I have nothing against TV, per se, and have been known to enjoy a documentary or a drama, but my preference remains for the big screen. 

 

 

 

I wonder whether youngsters today are given similar warnings.  The risk of ophthalmic angulation must have increased exponentially with the birth of the smart phone, and the tablet.  Studies suggest that children have developed a familiarity and propensity for a 'swipe' movement that was never before commonplace.  We are indeed evolving...

 

And in order to keep up, it is as though we must be continually switched on.

 

I find myself asking so-called 'office based' clients suffering from work related stress about the number of ways in which they remain 'logged in', and how it might be were they to come 'off line' - just occasionally.

 

 

 

The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.

Margaret Heffernan

 

It is as though our phones have become comfort blankets - we must take them with us, everywhere.  According to the sales associate I met when it was time for me to upgrade my device, the most likely cause of an insurance claim is water damage incurred by mobiles that have the unfortunate luck to fall from their owner's pocket into the loo. 

 

We, and our phones, need to learn to swim.  We are bobbing around in the sea of technology and the ocean of instant communication.  Must we be endlessly contactable?  What might happen if we weren't? 

 

I appreciated the 'out of office' I received last week stating that the recipient of the email I had sent reads his emails twice daily, inviting me to evaluate how urgent the content of my message was, and offering me the opportunity to pick up the phone, if indeed the message was time sensitive. 

 

There are, I think, very few things that simply can't wait.  The 'pace of life' may have picked up but, as we are responsible for sustaining the momentum, it's within our power, to slow down, pause or, controversially, switch off. 

 

When we look at a screen, we can see only a tiny fragment of reality.  By looking beyond the screen, we will likely see more which may enable us to perform better than any App.   

 

Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives.  It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone. 

Steven Spielberg

 

 

 Cell phones are not a sign of power; they're a sign of subservience.

Doug Pappas