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Disconnect T3ch - Smartphones are your biggest distraction
Ricardo Trejo Feb 4, 2011
Editorial , Exclusive, Geek Culture, Internet, Minimalism, Personal, Smartphones 
It’s crazy to think that the iPhone 4, released in 2010, is as powerful as the full-on iMac computers of 2000. The scale of computing power at our fingertips is astounding, but the hardware and specs are nothing compared to the amount of interconnectivity seen on today’s social networks and mobile platforms like Twitter would make anyone’s head hurt. However, it’s these always-on services that provide 24/7 conversations that continuously keep us connected and distracted away from the very real world around us.
Tech Babysitters
The other day I was at a fast food joint and noticed a mom on her phone, making calls and working on a laptop while her little boy was given a Nintendo DS to literally babysit him until she was finished. While she may thought that she was killing two birds with one stone — getting some business done while keeping her son entertained — she was in effect telling him, and everyone else, that the commodities of today don’t require us to communicate if the circumstances don’t allow us to.
Now, I’m not judging the woman, because for all I know she’s a dedicated mom who spends a lot of time with her kids one on one, and this was just one of those days, but it wa just hard to watch, y’know? Especially whenever she would say “one minute” to her son who kept asking her a question.
Why Disconnect?
I started this series, Disconnect T3ch, as a means to give some people awareness of the dangers that our technologic conveniences bring. While they do help us connect with those who aren’t immediately in front of us, at times we choose to fiddle around with our phone and check texts, email, and social networks for messages all while someone is talking right to our face. In the introductory post to this series, I talked about how many people use these modern day advancements to get themselves out of current situations they no longer wish to be a part of. For instance; boring conversations, using the toilet, long waits in lobbys, and even driving are just a few of the moments in which people use their phones and mobile access to the internet to distract their minds from the current issue at hand. Doing this makes them believe that they’re multitasking, or doing two things at once, when they are really in fact just neglecting the actual task at hand. Not only that but I find that whenever someone tries to do juggle two things at once they end up completely missing out or even spacing out on whatever it is they were doing in the first place. Conversations go through one ear and out the other and moments in time are lost forever in favor of a few pieces of digital data.
Turn It Off For A Night
Now while there are some real-life exceptions to all the distractions brought upon us by the devices that should more often be fixed in our pockets than in our hands, needless to say: smartphone use needs to be kept in check. Why not strive to spend one entire evening for instance, perhaps during a weekend, with your phone turned off your phone. Yeah, I know that might’ve freaked out a couple of people — the thought of not putting it on silent but instead cutting its lifeline altogether — but we’re using this method to keep you free of distractions for an entire night.
Imagine the freedom and liberation you’ll feel knowing you won’t be getting any calls, emails, or texts, that you’ll know of, until the next day. No ringing or notifications to worry about for the whole night! It sounds scary at first but if you have a project to work on, a family of kids or significant other to hang with, then you’ll appreciate not having to share this precious time with them with your phone. Email, texting, and social networking is an awesome thing to have in our digital age, but we’re increasingly depending on it to keep us entertained instead of looking to those around us for enjoyment.
Turn off the phone and put it under your pillow for a night, then come back and tell us how your evening went — we’d love to hear your story.
Ricardo Trejo Feb 4, 2011
Editorial , Exclusive, Geek Culture, Internet, Minimalism, Personal, Smartphones 
