Smartphones and Creative Ideas
At NASA, at least some people get rid of “smart phones” to get creative ideas back: Lynda Barry at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre (via ruk.ca):
Barry’s impact on the assembled Goddard employees was immediate; from the moment she arrived, she insisted on abandoning all electronic devices. “They were really flipped out about it,” says Barry. “The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from.”
At the time of writing this, the Süddeutsche Zeitung insists that social media (WhatsApp) “belong into classrooms“
update 2017-Oct-11
- die Tagesschau reports that 14-29 year old Germans are online for about 4.5 hours per day
- the guardian has a longer report on how smartphones are hijacking ones minds. The text warns about a much more severe consequence: “Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.” The article goes on to explain how there are certain hooks emplaced in smartphone-related technology that are designed to keep you there and make for the companies advertising dollars.