Connection Disconnection
Most millennials grew up around the dawn of the smartphone. Sure, we had technology like VCR players and floppy disks, but we were raised around advancing cellular technology. Every generation is constantly adapting to a new influx of information and advancements. Millennials are the youngest generation to remember the simplicity of life before the smartphone. Often, we were told to play outside. "Don't come inside until time for dinner!" Or for some, until the sun went down.
As technology advanced, however, we lost our ability to condone our boredom. According to I Have Forgotten How to Read by Michael Harris, society as a whole has become more impatient with any form of delay in our normal routine. Millennials became the first generation to demand disruption, a constant influx of new and exciting stimuli. Yet, we remember the times of reading books for fun, playing on the neighborhood swing set, or watching Teletubbies on cable. We still remember family dinners without cellular interruption. Raised in a period after phones became so habitually a piece of ourselves, later generations didn't get these opportunities. Today, we recognize our phones as much a part of our identity as our names.
"I've been trained not just to expect disruption, but to demand it."
Michael Harris
In a 2018 study titled Having Your Smartphone Nearby Takes a Toll on Your Thinking, Kristen Duke, Adrian Ward, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten Bos researched the impact smartphones have on our cognitive capacity. The study found that the presence of smartphones dramatically reduced participants' abilities to complete given tasks to an extent comparable to a lack of sleep. Performance is impaired even more for tasks requiring sustained attention from the participants.
Designed to keep people connected virtually, the presence of smartphones can distract people from social activities and make the interactions less enjoyable. Although phones increase personal efficiency and productivity, allow us to save time and money, connect us virtually, and keep us entertained, they prevent us from connecting on an interpersonal level.