Getting help: Smartphones are depressants, laptops are stimulants
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A friend recently asked if I thought all screens were equally addictive. More specifically, she asked if I took issue with the amount of laptops and computers being used in classrooms today.
“Not really,” I responded. “When used correctly, computers are mostly creation and productivity machines — like F150s, hammers, or pant brushes of the digital world. They can certainly be abused. But they are excellent educational tools and workhorses that actually prepare most kids for the same amount of computers they’ll use in their careers.”
In that way, smartphones are measurably more additive. They’re mostly consumption devices that when used in excess, behave like digital depressants. Desktops and laptops, on the other hand, are often stimulants. They are better creative machines.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. I’ve written 5000 word articles with only my iPhone on an airplane, and I used to be addicted to my laptop in unhealthy ways. But the advent of smartphones more than doubled, if not tripled, the amount of soul-sucking screen abuse, by my estimation.
The always-on, bottomless, and infinite scroll handhelds we always take with us are the much larger, more depressing problem for all involved. Consequently, that’s where the majority of our focus and restraint should be on.
As we head into the holiday, I challenge each of us to set boundaries on our phones, such as gutting our notifications, deleting distracting apps, and self-imposing screen limits. It’s the best way I know to live heads up.