Why our screens make us less happy summary

Running head: EFFECTS OF USING SCREENS 1

EFFECTS OF USING SCREENS 2

Effects of Using Screens

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As one does further analysis on psychology, one may come across different topics that may be of great interest. The TED talks are a place where one can come across a variety of such topics. Different prominent researchers create the TED talks hence being a better source of exploring different topics. Adam Alter's TED talk “Why our screens make us less happy” is one of the most significant TED talks in psychology that can be reflected on.

Summary of the Main Ideas

Adam Alter, a psychologist, describes how much concentration on screens and reading through them has eventually managed in controlling our lives. The TED talks describe how people have adapted to the routine of spending more hours in smartphones, and averagely every person spends approximately three hours in their smartphones a day. As wonderful as technology is perceived to be, the TED talk describes how technology has managed to reduce the time people spend with their families. People are clueless about how their happiness may be affected by reduced personal time (Alter, 2017 2:54-2:57). Professor Alter described how Jobs` family decided to use dinner time in order to have conversational engagement. Lack of boundaries is part of the factors that enable endless screening.

New Ideas Learned

There are different ideas that can be learned from the TED talk. One of the ideas is the white personal space keeps on decreasing as a result of the increased use of screens. The white person space was described in the TED talk as the personal time people should have, which is important for a healthy living of everybody. The white personal space provides people with an opportunity of doing things that always make them individuals. Another idea that I learned from the TED talk is that people spend more time using apps that do not bring any happiness in their lives. People spend three times longer in apps that do not make them happy since it is approximated that they spend 27 minutes on such apps while spending approximately 9 minutes on other apps(Alter, 2017 4:19-5:16). When people are interrupted by using such apps and asked how they feel, they would clearly indicate that they do not feel pretty good at using them.

Agreement with Main Ideas Presented

I agree with one of the main ideas presented in the TED talk that people are spending more time on their screens. The majority of people in the US today spend most of their time watching videos, especially on YouTube, browsing different social media platforms, and making tablets part of their lives. The adults in America spend approximately 11 hours a day interacting with the media (Rotondi, Stanca & Tomasuolo, 2017).The other idea that I agree with from the TED talk is that the use of screens has resulted in a reduction of time people spend together having conversations. The use of different apps, especially social media, may help in making people connected, but that does not happen when it comes to relationships. The use of smartphones can ruin the relationship between families or even partners and result in more depression (Rotondi, Stanca & Tomasuolo, 2017). Putting a smartphone into any social interaction may reduce the empathy connection that people may feel towards one another.

Applying what I Learned in my Life

There are different ways I can apply what I learned from the TED talk.After knowing how spending more time may affect our relationships with our families, I intend to reduce the time I spend on my smartphone. I need to increase the attention I give to my family and friends. Since relationships are more important, I should start being more concerned about interacting with my family. Other than reducing the time I spend on my smartphones for the sake of having more time to interact with my family, I still need to do so to increase my concentration in my studies. I need to start switching off all my notifications from my smartphone whenever we are having a conversation with my family, especially when taking a meal since that may interrupt my concentration. I as well need to create a phone-free space, which is an intentional time created when devices are not supposed to be used. That means I will have to put my smartphone away whenever I am having conversations and taking them along with me whenever we are having meals.

Additional Research on the Topic

The current revolution in technology has affected our social interactions, which is a significant part of our well-being. The use of smartphones helps us get connected with our friends and families, but that is not the same case with the people sitting next to us. The use of smartphones while working may make people get more interrupted hence reducing the amount of concentration on the primary activities. The increased notifications that come from our smartphones may result in the increased symptoms of inattention (Dwyer, Kushlev & Dunn, 2018). Such symptoms of reduced attention are associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I found it more interesting how a reduction in the use of smartphones may positively impact our relationship with the people we are seated next to.

One Idea for Follow-up Research

One of the ideas that need more research from the TED talk is how different apps manage to bring happiness to people, while others make people less happy. It is as well important to have an understanding of the types of apps that make people happy and those that make people less happy. It is a bit confusing how people are happy when using some apps while they are not when using others. Doing some more research on how we use technology may help in identifying how using different apps vary based on the happiness of the users.

References

Alter, A. (2017, April). Why our screens make us less happy [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_alter_why_our_screens_make_us_less_happy

Dwyer, R. J., Kushlev, K., & Dunn, E. W. (2018). Smartphone use undermines the enjoyment of face-to-face social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 233-239. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103117301737

Rotondi, V., Stanca, L., & Tomasuolo, M. (2017). Connecting alone: Smartphone use, quality of social interactions, and well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology, 63, 17-26.