Society | DOI: 10.1145/2001269.2001277
Samuel Greengard
Living in a Digital World
Technology has created new opportunities to connect and interact.
Yet, researchers are increasingly concerned that heavy technology
usage is changing people’s behavior in less than desirable ways.

IT IS No secret that humans have an innate urge to con- nect with one another. In fact, research shows that well-ad- justedpeoplespendmoretime engaged in social interaction and activities. However, in the age of always-on digital technology, the notion of connectedness—and the definition of friendship—is changing radically. Increasingly, the route to human interaction is through a digital device.

Approximately two billion people now tap into the Internet. About five billion people use mobile phones and a growing number of these devices offer sophisticated computing and communications capabilities. There’s cell service atop Mt. Everest and in remote South Pacific atolls. Incredibly, the average 13- to 17-year-old in the U.S. sends about 110 text messages per day. In fact, it’s become increasingly difficult to go anywhere without getting caught in the tractor beam of digital technology.

Not surprisingly, as people use these devices more frequently—and for more hours each day—researchers are studying the effects with growing interest. Add to this the extreme multitasking that we increasingly engage in, either by choice or necessity, and it is clear that society is venturing into a brave new frontier. “We’re seeing people so absorbed in digital media that it’s becoming their primary reference point for life,” observes Clifford Nass, a communications professor at Stanford University and author of The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships.

photograph by billy Quach

What is the impact of digital im-
mersion? How is it changing people’s
thinking and behavior? And how does
it affect the way we view the world and
interact with others? It’s a complex
equation that researchers are only
now beginning to understand. “Digital
technology brings people together,”
says Michael Suman, research director
at the Center for the Digital Future at
the University of Southern California.
“It allows people to connect in ways
that were never before possible. But it
also creates new sets of questions and
potential problems.”

“for many of us,
it is becoming
increasingly difficult
to control the impulse
to check the inbox
yet again,” notes Yair
amichai-hamburger.

net Losses

There’s no disputing that digital technology has thoroughly invaded our lives. A 2011 study conducted by telecommunications giant Ericsson found that 35% percent of iPhone and Android users check their email or Facebook account before getting out of bed in the morning. In addition, 40% use their phones in bed before they go to sleep at night. The average American is digitally connected between 2. 5 and 3. 5 hours a day. Nielsen reports that social networking, online games, and email are the biggest attractions.

Few people have examined the topic more closely than Sherry Turkle, a professor of social studies of science and technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. She believes that digital immersion is seductive because it seemingly addresses our human vulnerabilities. “As it turns out, we are very vulnerable,”