Scrolling to our Doom: When smartphone FOMO fragments our brains

HAS ANYONE else noticed how the concept of “conversation” has changed?

These days, eye contact is a rarity because people keep glancing at their devices. What’s worse is when the “conversation” becomes all about a social media post. Then it’s not really talking – it’s show-and-tell. I try not to be impolite, but I groan inwardly when a smartphone is stuck under my nose and I’m forced to watch something “interesting”.

Don’t get me wrong, I do it too. I actually caught myself doing it the other day. Here I was being irritated by others doing what I myself did to others. It was pretty sobering.

Understand that I grew up during the ’70s and ’80s. Parents didn’t micromanage our lives or schedule play dates. The only instruction was to be home before the street lights came on. Beyond that, we figured things out for ourselves.

We spoke to each other, argued with each other, solved our own problems, drew up plans, and invented wild – sometimes dangerous – games.

With the advent of technology, I think humankind has lost a step. We have become so absorbed in our devices that we are missing out on living. Not having a cellphone growing up means that I read all the Bobby Brewster books, all Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Secret Seven adventures, all Franklin W Dixon’s adventures of the Hardy Boys, and more.

Today, sitting down for an hour or two with a book is considered boring or inconvenient. Who has the patience – or the ability – to focus for that long?

According to psychiatrist and addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke of Stanford University, digital media is reshaping our reward systems. She argues that smartphones can trigger the same dopamine (pleasure) pathways involved in more traditional addictions, creating “habit loops” that make us check our phones without thinking – and feel restless when we can’t.

Seriously, how many times do you think you check your phone in a day? 

One study found that people unlocked their phones between 50 and 100 times per 24 hours. That means every 10 to 20 minutes, because of FOMO (the fear of missing out), you’re probably checking your screen.

That’s an addiction.

I find it hard to believe, and I am rather ashamed to find that I compulsively check my phone. I was in my mid-20s when I got my first cellphone, and in my late-40s when I was introduced to smartphones. Yet it has become welded to my hand.

And having spent most of my life without it … noticing its ability to warp my behaviour so quickly and completely, makes red flags and alarm bells go off in my head!

So is it actually a problem, or are we just being alarmists? After all, these devices have put the world at our fingertips, and our youth have more information at their disposal than we had at their age, even though we had almost unlimited access to libraries, and they, according to some studies, are not big readers.

Here’s the thing: some research suggests smartphones may be undermining memory and productivity.

A study from Singapore Management University found that while total screen time does matter, frequent phone-checking is a stronger predictor of daily memory slips and attention lapses. 

In other words, the more often you pick up your phone just to take a quick look, the more likely your concentration is being chipped away.

People often brag about multitasking, but there’s no such thing. All we’re really doing is splitting our attention bandwidth. Every time we unlock a device, our thoughts are fractured. Decades ago (long before smartphones) computer scientist Gerald Weinberg warned that constant task-switching can dramatically cut productivity – in some cases by as much as 80%.

Hmmm… that leaves me wondering. Days felt much longer when I was growing up, and now time seems to be racing by like a supersonic jet. 

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that so few of us are fully present in any given moment.