It's nearly impossible to continue a conversation with someone who has a multi-tasking phone at the ready, and looking for any reason to use it. Typical phrases used to end the conversation are, "I need to check something" or "I forgot to look something up." Now, if you're lucky, the person may say, "Go ahead, I'm listening" or something of the sort, at which point you attempt to continue but are met with resistance. At this point you may be given one syllable responses such as, "yeah" or "right" and my favorite, "uh-huh" which technically isn't a word.
The study of human nature has been of interest to intellectuals, such as Descartes and Plato, for hundreds of years. I think that any modern study of human nature must take into account the technology factor. The phrase I used earlier, "I need to check something" is the perfect phrase for proving my point. The words "need" and "something" are the most important. You don't even know what you're looking when you use a word like "something." The fact that you think you "need" to use your phone for nothing specific shows that it has become part of your nature. The study of human nature must now account for the questions concerning the integration of technology and mind.
In conclusion, I am not against progression of technology, but I am concerned with how it is infecting people with an unhealthy obsession.
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