In the 21st century, there are few technologies that match the smartphone. With the world at our fingertips, it seems that there are few limits on what we can learn and achieve – the sheer amount of knowledge, communication, and entertainment available online is staggering. However, as many of us have experienced, the downside of this great tool is distraction and information overload, particularly from the parts of our lives which depend upon our dedicated attention – our family and friends.There is only so much our brains can handle at once, and yet the goal of social media is our unceasing attention and engagement. Powerful algorithms curate content which makes us feel as though our desires are uncannily met, if not influenced without our prior knowledge or consent. Setting aside the powerful rewards systems vying for our attention, smartphones also absorb our time because of the digital alternatives they offer to analog utilities, such as real life books and notebooks, music libraries, calendars, and maps. Though the smartphone lightens our practical load in many ways, it increases social dysfunction in real life.
