Jaidan Brass - Screen Culture (12/04)



    For one of my classes, I had to read the book Your Brain on Nature by Selhub and Logan. One of the many topics relevant to today is how screen culture has impacted our lives. Selhub and Logan state that “many of us have become slaves to our screens” (p.37), which I believe, in many cases, is true. My phone usage can range from 7 hours a day to 10, depending on what I am doing for the day. Days I was out and doing stuff or was very busy are closer to 7 hours, but a day where I can laze around can get up to 10. This means 30-40% of my week is spent on my phone, which is an embarrassingly large amount of time considering that another 25% is spent sleeping, meaning only 35% is spent outside of sleeping and being on my phone. Why do humans today seem to spend so much time on their phones? Selhub and Logan mention that we get hits of dopamine whenever we find something new or interesting on our phones, which leads us to continue using them because of the feelings we get. However, they also state that constantly acquiring information like this can make us feel exhausted and burned out.
    There is also the fact that we’re required to be constantly accessible through email, text, or other sources. People get upset when you don’t respond in a reasonable amount of time, and there’s always the chance of losing opportunities when not connected to a phone or computer. Selhub and Logan state that more than 70% of people check their emails over vacation, which means that most people can’t get away, even when they should be able to. Our society is almost pushing us into a place where we cannot disconnect from our phones.

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