Books examine our addictive technology
Do you feel anxiety when your smartphone isn’t in reach? Nomophobia is a term used by some researchers, and it refers to the unease that kicks in when people are away from their phones.
So the question becomes, is it an actual addiction or are you just overly attached? Several new titles released this year explore this question, and numerous books focus on how much time we actually spend attached to our screens.
In his book “Irresistible, The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked,” Adam L. Alter, a professor of psychology and marketing at NYU, tracks behavioural addiction and explains why so many products are enticing and difficult to resist. He also goes beyond the addictive discussion and details how to use these products in ways that help to mitigate the most damaging effects.
“The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love” by Judson Brewer, a leading neuroscientist and pioneer in the study of mindfulness, explains why addictions are tenacious and how we can learn to conquer them.
In her book “The Power of Off, The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World,” author Nancy Colier provides suggestions for participating in the present moment and using technology to play a healthy role in everyday life.
In the publisher’s promotion for therapist and former video game developer Ryan Anderson’s book “Screen Savvy: Creating Balance in a Digital World,” it notes you “learn how to avoid excessive, obsessive or addictive relationships with your screens so you can live a rich and engaging life on and offline.”
“I Love My Computer Because My Friends Live in It” by tech analyst Jess Kimball is a humourous look at the ways Kimball feels technology has contributed to the person she is today. She shares that she bets most people would credit technology for many of their successes, too, if they could only shed the notion that it’s a mind-numbing drug on which we’re all overdosing. Sarah Granger, in her book “The Digital Mystique: How the Culture of Connectivity Can Empower Your Life,” also presents the view that there are abundant positive opportunities to learn, grow and thrive by engaging in our digitized world.
“The Fabulous Friend Machine,” a picture book for children by Nick Bland, features Popcorn, the chicken, and her adventures with a forgotten smartphone she finds in the barn. “Katie Friedman Gives up Texting and Lives to Tell About It” by Tom Greenwald is about middle schoolers giving up their phones for a week, and “Textrovert” by Lindsey Summers revolves around an online relationship between two teens.
If you feel you’ve mastered your relationship with your smartphone, read about the challenges that lie ahead: a clever, amusing book by Dr. Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith called “Soonish, Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve And/or Ruin Everything,” sets out to show us the amazing world we will have … soonish.