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The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

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Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#261

Post by olavk »

nwatson wrote: post #3

Bards pre-literate-times in Greece purportedly could recite Homer's Odyssey themselves after one hearing. Writing destroyed that all. (Maybe I don't have a citation right off, but I've read that on the web or heard it in some college class years ago ... in any case, ability to retain heard information has likely declined since then). But ... few people complain about how books corrupt our memory. So we're the first g…

> Bards pre-literate-times in Greece purportedly could recite Homer's Odyssey themselves after one hearing

That sounds highly unlikely. Do you have a legitimate sources to back this up? Certainly bards had great memory and were able to recite whole epics (perhaps with a level of improvisation akin to "freestyling" in rap), but under what circumstances would they only hear an epic once?

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#263

Post by [deleted] »

ekianjo wrote: post #158
chillwaves wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't have nukes or climate change back then. Human nature + escalating technology is the scary formula we are exploring today.

The plague killed way more people than nukes ever did, and there was no way to stop it until people understood what spread it. Of course technology has bright sides as well. Without medicine and many other discoveries we would not be where we are today.

[deleted]

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#265

Post by thinkfurther »

ekianjo wrote: post #158
chillwaves wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't have nukes or climate change back then. Human nature + escalating technology is the scary formula we are exploring today.

The plague killed way more people than nukes ever did, and there was no way to stop it until people understood what spread it. Of course technology has bright sides as well. Without medicine and many other discoveries we would not be where we are today.

> The plague killed way more people than nukes ever did

Yeah, but without bacteria we wouldn't be where we are today. Whatever that means.

I would not identify rather specific technologies accelerating the reach of the dysfunctional into "technology in general", just like I wouldn't lump together the bacteria that caused the plague and those that live in my stomach.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#266

Post by zulln »

starik36 wrote: post #221
notadoc wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of funny. Similarly, I stopped listening to any music on my iPhone once I got an iPhone 7. Unexpected side effect of having no headphone jack, but I always forget the dongle somewhere. So, no more music from the iPhone. I listen to old am/fm talk radio again instead.

I am always confused about posts like these. iPhone 7 comes with lighting headphones. Why can't you use those? No dongle required.

I rather not listen to music at all, but to do it with Apple's headphones. Never been a fan of those.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#267

Post by jyriand »

buf wrote: post #44

I want to learn Japanese. 3 months ago I changed my phone's language to Japanese. Everything is Japanese - maps, services, apps that read from the default phone language. Oddly enough, instead of learning Japanese, I just use my phone less.

Duolingo introduced japanese language recently. Here you go, now you have a reason to use your phone.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#268

Post by zulln »

notadoc wrote: post #168
scriptkiddy wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a second I thought you were implying that not listening to music is a good thing. Glad to hear that's not what you believe.

Oh no I think it's a very bad thing. My implication is that I either shouldn't have bought an iPhone 7, or maybe that Apple pulled the headphone jack a decade too early.

I always leave the dongle on in-ear headphones, that way I never forget them. Sure, the problem still exists for listening in a new environment (a friend's car, as someone here gave as example), but not with your own headphones.

(mind you, I do not listen with in-ear headphones when I actually want to enjoy music, but they sure are a lot easier to bring with me than my "real headphones")

Edit, as a bonus, as I almost always have my in-ears with me, is that I most often also have access to the dongle while in new environments as well.

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#269

Post by MarHoff »

ekianjo wrote: post #157
noam87 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were they irrelevant? -- I see plenty doom and gloom in my history books and, hell, twitter feed. It was just a few decades ago that 80 million people died in a single war.

yet the world did not end. Countless prophecies aboutvthe absolute apocalypse have gone and passed. So yeah it is by large irrelevant.

You just made me realized that this sentiment of pending apocalypse is maybe exactly what drove humankind forward along the past.

It just look like the notion is always morphing from generations to generations : the flood, the plague, the apocalypse, the nuclear winter and now climat change.

From biblical hazards to scientific hazards, maybe humankind is finally like the high school student who only work great when under heavy pressure for it's exams.

And maybe just maybe this is how you can best reconcile science with religion because no matter your beliefs, this is a test for all of us... Are we making enough "good" around to deserve joy for us, our children and all they children after them?

Re: The Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

#270

Post by ihaveahadron »

nwatson wrote: post #3

Bards pre-literate-times in Greece purportedly could recite Homer's Odyssey themselves after one hearing. Writing destroyed that all. (Maybe I don't have a citation right off, but I've read that on the web or heard it in some college class years ago ... in any case, ability to retain heard information has likely declined since then). But ... few people complain about how books corrupt our memory. So we're the first g…

Yea smartphones are the new books etc etc. Get over jt
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