Cal Newport on Why We'll Look Back at Our Smartphones Like Cigarettes

Post by com2kid » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:13 PM UTC

goostavos wrote: post #77

HiroshiSan wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though I completely agree with your sentiment, Cal explicitly defines the meaning of Deep Work, and I think it's an important thing society should think about as technology progresses. It helps to have the terminology to describe the state of our lives. From page 3 of the book, Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limi…

I read 75% of it, does that make me qualified to trash on it? I thought it was complete garbage. Not the idea, mind you, the _book_. It's a blog post's worth of information that's comically stretched out in an early college I'm-trying-to-meet-a-word count way. The book is almost entirely pointless fluff.

Post by billfruit » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:13 PM UTC

snarf21 wrote: post #35

deweller wrote: post #5

Cigarettes are a flawed analogy. There is no such thing as a "healthy" use of cigarettes. But I would argue that smart phones can be used in a healthy way. And I would also argue that the phone itself is not the problem. The problem is the reliance on the endorphin hit that comes from a new IM, like, post, etc. Some app makers have optimized their platform for engagement and have consequently made this highly addicti…

Right, early smartphones without social media were far less addictive. Games were less addictive because it was things like Snake not Fortnite. The other missing piece is "What would people do instead?". If you get rid of your smartphone and replace it with six hours of Netflix, you are probably not any healthier or better off.

Post by scottlocklin » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

efields wrote: post #42

Most people don't actually want a smartphone. Pain in the ass to keep charged, carry it everywhere, not drop it, not lose it. Everybody generally wants a few core services from their smartphone: send and receive brief messages, directions, ride hailing, listen to a podcast or some streaming service, mobile payments, take photos (perhaps most importantly). Sometimes some people want the distractions available on a sma…

Post by AceyMan » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:26 PM UTC

emiliobumachar wrote: post #57

owens99 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but automobiles aren’t addicting. I believe a better title would be about “today’s smart phone” assuming we will still have smart phones in the future but they won’t be designed to be addicting anymore.

Automobiles are not addictive in the medical sense, but consider that, all else being equal, heavy car users will, much faster than others, lose the capacity to walk long distances.

Post by jrockway » Thu, Jan 31, 2019, 6:30 PM UTC

rauhl wrote: post #20

deweller wrote: post #5

Cigarettes are a flawed analogy. There is no such thing as a "healthy" use of cigarettes. But I would argue that smart phones can be used in a healthy way. And I would also argue that the phone itself is not the problem. The problem is the reliance on the endorphin hit that comes from a new IM, like, post, etc. Some app makers have optimized their platform for engagement and have consequently made this highly addicti…

> There is no such thing as a "healthy" use of cigarettes. I don’t think that’s really true. The health effects of a cigarette a week would be indistinguishable from background noise. The fundamental problem with cigarettes is that they are addictive, and convenient (at one time very convenient), and so it’s easy to smoke more and more. That’s actually very similar to smartphones: their use is addictive, and convenie…