Are smartphones making us dumber?

Anywhere between 6-10% of Internet users are addicted.
Do you ever sneak away from people to check your smart phone?
Have you ever check your blackberry while at a meal with others?
Do you use your smart phone in the bathroom?...and wish you could use it in the shower?
Do you feel lost or naked if you don't have your phone with you?
Do you have to check your phone before bed and immediately when you wake up?
Do you constantly check your phone even when you know there is no new email or text?
Have you ever ignored others in a real conversation to use your phone?
Have you ever checked your phone at a stoplight?

you might have a problem.

3 billion cell phone users. 12 Billion text messages are sent worldwide every day.

Before office workers received their company issued blackberry's, they were working about 47 hrs a week. 9 months later they were averaging over 70 hrs a week.

Somehow the marketing has convinced us that it's a better way to do things. Studies have shown it is associated with increased levels of stress, burnout and decreased job and life satisfaction and increased marital conflict. Smart phone designers engineer them expecting users to touch them over 200 times a day for 20-30 seconds at a time. One of the great myths of technology is that gadgets are supposed to give us more time. But doesn't it feel like they take time away from us?  We are always tinkering with them, changing settings and troubleshooting etc.

The productivity paradox has shown that the more a company invests in technology the LESS productive it's people are.

What I see is more and more distraction. Less deep thinking and more superficial information just being passed quickly along.  Like foreworded texts of a joke, or a twitter picture of someones lunch. Can our brains keep up with all the modern demands for our attention?

Are we all born multitaskers? Cell phone researchers use a term called inattention blindness to describe the mental state we are in when talking on our phones as opposed to listening to music. What is even more frightening is that cell phone users who are proven to have missed parts of tasks, BELIEVED that they were aware of everything going on around them. On average, texters look away from the road for almost 5 seconds. At 50 mph you can travel the length of a football field without looking at the road. At any given time 10% of drivers are texting and 23 times more likely to be in an accident. Our brain is really only capable of doing one thing at a time. So if you think you are a good multitasking actually what you are doing is switching tasks very quickly.  Studies have also found that a middle aged person who "multitasks" makes more errors. One interesting positive is that surgeons that play video games make less errors in operating rooms.

It may seem that we are getting more done, but really we are just getting sloppier. Because when we are doing this we are paying partial continuous attention to many things. This can't be good. Because we have to reorient our brains every time we shift back and forth to tasks. Some research shows that those that multitask the most have more memory problems and are more easily distracted.  All this media is aggressively going after our attention.

Younger users have had their attention spans shortened by technology. They can't handle large chunks of information. Their music reflects this and their choices reflect this. Most students spend less than 2 hours a week reading and studying for class but over 9 hours on facebook per week. With the Internet the majority of brain energy is used to find information and not to deeply study it once it's found. It inhibits creative thinking because instead of pursuing an idea, your twitter followers give you instant feedback before the idea can fully develop.

In the end there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. The flow of information through our lives is only going to increase as new and faster devices are made. The simple solution seems to be to turnoff and tune it out. But is that possible? We can either manage our usage or it will manage us.

Las Vegas. Sin City and the American Capitalist Dream.

"This town, is a make-you town. or a break-you town."-- Frank Sinatra.


Yes it's true, there are no clocks in Vegas casinos. Yes it's true they pump oxygen into the casino to keep weary gamblers awake and at the tables longer. Yes it's true beautiful women will spend the night with you if the price is right.  Vegas is a place where anything is possible and EVERYTHING has it's price.


Inside the grocery stores there are video poker machines. It is a strong probability that you will see a woman with a filled grocery cart, and an infant, sitting on a machine with a cigarette in her hand.  A grandmother spending her social security money in $20 dollar increments.  At any stoplight its common to count 5 or 6 cars over $80,000. I counted.


I looked down on my wrist to find a Platinum Rolex watch. the price tag read $50,488.  On my way to the grocery store I saw 2 Bentleys and a Rolls Royce Phantom. I learned the difference in cut, clarity, and color of diamonds at Tiffany & Company.  I ate platefuls of steamed crab legs dipped in butter and jumbo shrimp smothered in cocktail sauce. Prime rib. Sirloin steak, $170 bottles of wine. I saw two naked girls jump into a giant fishbowl. My pocket Jacks got lucky and turned into a Full House.


Top shelf alcohol flows freely, delivered by gorgeous cocktail waitresses.  At any second someone is risking it all. people shout and clap out loud at blackjack tables. A guy in a big cowboy hat and cowboy boots has his girlfriend blow on his dice for him. This isn't a movie. This is real.  In an elevator I counted 4 different languages being spoken. The latest fashions from Tokyo, London, New York, and Milan walk right by you on your way to the bathroom. Modern design and architecture is redefined with every new casino built.  The week before I arrived, the $3.9 billion dollar Cosmopolitan Casino opened. World famous chefs from Italy to Peru have restaurants all over town. Elvis has a new show. Frank Sinatra has one too. Hopes are turned into elation, dreams are dashed with the flip of an ace.


Three football games are on television, next to a college basketball game two NBA games, a hockey game a soccer match from England, and a car race of some sort. You can wager that Kobe Bryant will score more points than the number of the winning Nascar driver (Jimmie Johnson's car is 48). The waitress asks you if you'd like another cocktail. or beer. or anything you want.


In Vegas, celebrities are on vacation just like you.  In one week I saw Mathew Fox (from Lost) and magician Penn Jillete (Penn & Teller). I saw Chris Angel get into a Bentley with the license plate: B-LEEVE.


I hadn't been to the Mirage poker room in over 18 months. Every dealer there recognized me and asked how I was. One of them gave me a hug.  A dealer named Bobby asked me how my trip was. I told him it was great and I'll be back as soon as I can. He said:

"It's Vegas. Everyone comes back".  So true.