#471: Screens Are Our Best Friends
4 articles on how we say we want to spend less time on screens, but we love them so
Dear Loyal Readers,
Today’s issue is a sequel to last week’s newsletter. Last time, the articles explored the harms of misinformation among young people and our reticence to intervene. This time, I’ve selected four pieces about the impact of screens on our lives and how we complain about them — but how we ultimately have given up and given in.
You may think, “Mark, how is this a new topic? We all know that we’re addicted to our phones.” But this week’s collection goes beyond stating the obvious. It’s not just about the amount of time we spend on screens and our inability to change our habits. It’s about how screens have become our friends, our companions, our confidants. We’re merging with them. They’re an extension of ourselves. We’re becoming one. We’re creating a facsimile of reality, a matrix, perhaps a simultation. It’s possible that there’s no going back from The Singularity.
I hope you read one (or all four!) of these articles, then share your perspectives in the comments at the end of the newsletter. Here they are:
It’s not Big Tech that will doom us. It’s all the “little data” we love.
We’re eager to let robots be our friends and our therapists.
We want our kids to get off their phones, but maybe it’s too late.
No matter what teachers say about cheating with AI, there’s no turning back.
Hope you appreciate this week’s articles. As always, if a piece resonates with you, let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Or if you prefer, show your support by becoming a paid subscriber (like Isidore!). I would be very grateful.
✚ Last chance to join our discussion of “Athens, Revised” on December 1, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT. Written by Erin Wood and published in The Sun, the article is equal parts devastating and uplifting. It’s raw and vulnerable. Throughout, it is brilliantly written. So far we have 11 people who have signed up, so there’s still room. You can find more info here and sign up here. Hope to see you there!
1️⃣ All The Little Data
Nicholas Carr: “I find myself in possession of a lot of information these days. I’m in the loop. I’m in many loops, all spinning simultaneously. It’s not just the minutiae of commerce — orders, shipments, deliveries—that are richly documented. When I’m driving, my car’s dashboard, linked to my iPhone through CarPlay, shows me exactly where I am, tells me the posted speed limit and the current traffic conditions, and lets me know both the distance I have to go before I reach my destination and the estimated time of my arrival. (There’s also a readout available on the town or city I’m visiting: population, elevation, square footage, GPS coordinates.) My phone’s weather app gives me a bespoke meteorological report of remarkable thoroughness. Right this second, the app tells me it’s eighty-four degrees and cloudy outside. A light rain will begin in seventeen minutes and will end forty-eight minutes after that, at which point it will become partly cloudy. The wind is blowing west-southwest at six miles per hour, the relative humidity is 58 percent, and the barometric pressure is 30.18 inHg. The UV index is six, which is High, and the air quality index is fifty-one, which is Moderate. The sun will set this evening at 8:11 p.m., and in four days the moon will be full. I’ve taken 4,325 steps today. My refrigerator’s water filter has only 10 percent of its useful life left. My credit rating just dropped eight points. I have 4,307 unread emails, two more than I had five minutes ago.”
By Nicholas Carr • The Hedgehog Review • 11 min • Gift Link
2️⃣ The Therapist In The Machine
Jess McAllen: “The company Earkick provides an AI therapist in the form of a panda, and their mobile app offers a premium plan for $40 a year that lets you dress ‘Panda’ in accessories like a beret or fedora (the base option is free, for now). You can also choose your preferred personality for Panda.
“For the most part, the creators of AI therapeutic tools insist they are simply augmenting, not replacing, conventional mental health care. Stephan, from Earkick, frames AI as something that can be there when a real therapist is not. In fact, being always on call is integral to the Earkick ethos. Stephan explains, ‘I would have needed support when I was young, and in my dreams, [that support] was like a voice in my ear, that’s why it’s called Earkick: it’s a sidekick in the ear.’ ”
By Jess McAllen • The Baffler • 19 min • Gift Link
3️⃣ Schools vs. Screens
Luc Rinaldi: “This past September, on the first day of class, an Ontario high school teacher I’ll call Adam attended a school-wide meeting about the province’s new restrictions on students’ smartphones. He and his colleagues had heard lots of buzz about the new rules, which they felt were long overdue, but had little concrete information about how teachers on the frontlines would enforce them.
According to Adam, the previous school year had been a gong show. Students arrived every morning with phones out and AirPods in, bleary-eyed from late nights scrolling. They texted during the national anthem and played mobile games under their desks. They shared pictures and videos of each other, of teachers and of after-school fights. They coordinated mid-period vape breaks in group chats. One student went to the bathroom and returned with an Uber Eats delivery. Any time Adam wrote on the board, he’d turn back around to find students glued to their glowing screens. Engagement had plummeted, grades were declining and, because Adam was constantly policing students’ phone use, his bond with them was fraying. ‘These kids want to do well, but they’re so lost,’ says Adam.”
By Luc Rinaldi • Maclean’s • 18 min • Gift Link
4️⃣ Cheating Has Become Normal
Beth McMurtrie: “It’s not AI that has a lot of professors worried. It’s what lies behind that willingness to cheat. While the reasons vary by student and situation, certain explanations surface frequently. Students are working long hours while taking full course loads.They doubt their ability to perform well. They arrive at college with weak reading and study skills. They don’t value the assignments they’re given. They feel like the only way they can succeed is to be perfect. They believe they will not be punished — or not punished harshly — if caught. And many, it seems, they don’t feel particularly guilty about it.
When it’s that widespread, it’s a culture. It’s not just an individual student. It is so many. And when I talk to some undergrads, they’re like, ‘Everybody does it.’
By Beth McMurtrie • The Chronicle of Higher Education • 14 min • Gift Link
💬 Your Turn: What do you think?
➡️ Are you as doomsday about screens as these articles suggest we should be?
➡️ Which article scared you most (or maybe none of them)?
➡️ What can we do (for ourselves, for our families, for our friends, for our communities) in order to stem the tide?
Tip: Be sure to refer to at least one article in your response.
In typical Article Club fashon, be sure to be kind and thoughtful. The idea here is always empathy and understanding.
Thank you for reading this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀
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I work at a K-8 school in Oakland that has phone lockers in each teachers room. Kids drop off their phones on the am and get them after school. It has been very successful. The article about removing phones in Canadian schools is on the right track. It really does help kids focus on each other and where they are.