For as long back as we can understand, human beings are antenna responding to environmental stimulation. We are wired to see, listen, taste, feel and smell the world. Without any one of these inputs we may compensate, but still feel the loss.
Our world is less present. Our understandings are blunted.
And then comes the cell phone. Another connection to the world around us.
Is it valuable to think about them this way?
It explains our reliance on the devices, how natural they feel when we have them with us. How “missing” they feel when they are not available. We can turn them down and turn them off. We can focus on what we want to read and see and hear. They are very accommodating--if used intelligently. Like all other sensory devices they can be abused. Overload is not just a matter of volume but of clutter. We need to tune all our senses to pinpoint accuracy, augment with sophisticated aids (binoculars, radar, amplifiers).
The equivalents of such aids are available to us when we use cell phones. Are we using them? All input channels need finetuning, clear and focus reception, increased power and accuracy. Cell phones won’t do that for us. We have to do it for ourselves.
That is, we have to do for cell phones what we, or our brains, do for our other “intakes.” We don’t stare at everything. We don’t listen to two concertos at the same time.
Adult maturity is just another name for a disciplined response to the world.