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Ask HN: Are we addicted to screens?

7 points by Buzaga ↗ HN
Smartphones -> everyone has one, they had screens in the past too, but they weren't so resourceful Elevator -> there's a screen showing news, ads Restaurant, bars -> TV Leisure -> Videogames, TV, computer Go to a club -> screens projecting videos or images increasingly more common Work -> PC Take a photo -> See through a screen See a live band -> Sometimes you have to watch it through the screen, or it's more practical to watch it through the live filming, some nuts pay a lot to watch a music show through the tiny screen of their cameras/phones, because they're recording

It's kinda unsettling to me how much more time of the day nowadays is spent with your eyes hooked to a screen

And it makes me wonder if we are not addicted to looking at them, you can see a lot of times if there's a screen in a place, even a interesting one, like a party, some people can't help but get their eyeballs fixed into it and gently ignore the rest

The other day I was at home drinking with friends and I brought my notebook to the living room to put some music, little time after, they picked it up and started the "youtube party", I had no interest at all in watching tiny videos instead of having a conversation and it seriously bothered me.. The same "Youtube party" friend constantly shifts from the people to playing pointless games on the smartphone(yeah, he's kind of a retard)

so, what happens? Is it because I'm a programmer and am already tired of excessive lack of interpersonal interactions or does anyone feel the same sometimes?

5 comments

[ 7.0 ms ] story [ 57.8 ms ] thread
mcrider
This is a major concern of postmodernist theory. This stuff mostly went above my head in my philosophy classes, but I recommend reading Baudrillard and Don Dellilo for their takes on our obsession with simulacra.
devs1010
Yeah, I have noticed this too, this is one reason why I think its important to get out in nature from time to time, whether its going hiking, camping or snowboarding, etc. Basically, our modern lives are usually fairly mundane. We commute, go to work, etc and have predictable routines to where we naturally get bored of this and crave stimulation and this manifests itself often in the form of the digital media you are talking about. By breaking from this routine and getting out occasionally in such a way that you can stimulate your senses.
brudgers
People are affected by flickering lights at a very basic level - we stare at fire, too.
glimcat
Vision affords high input bandwidth and loose constraints. The key constraint being, you have to look at the interface.

Other senses afford low input bandwidth and have many constraints. They tend to trump vision only where needing to look at the interface is problematic, or where the data exists in another form (audio) and transcoding it is problematic, or where closed-loop feedback control is needed (tactile feedback & haptics).

wkearney99
A programmer lamenting lack of interpersonal interactions... there's hope for the world, or at least for you. The addiction isn't the screen, it's the stimulation of being a voyeur on the actions of others. This is not a new phenomenon, just that the screen opens a window that would, in the past, have required a lot more physical travel, time, cost, etc. Now they can be lazy voyeurs essentially for free. Whether or not this is progress is a good question.