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The digital revolution has changed the way we live. Life has become faster, more ephemeral and virtually instantaneous. Our patience has thinned, our attention spans have shortened, and our hyperconnectivity has replaced personal interaction.
Over the course of just fifteen years, our ability to pay attention has been reduced by one-third according to a recent study commissioned by Microsoft. In fact, the study reveals people generally tend to lose concentration after just eight seconds while our notoriously scattered-brained goldfish friends can hold a thought for at least nine.
Life without cellphones is for many unthinkable. According to a study commissioned by Nokia, the average person checks their phone every six-and-a-half minutes. Our obsession with All Things Digital has given rise to a new medical condition called nomophobia, the fear of being without your mobile phone. If you break out into a cold sweat when you leave your phone at home, you may be one of the many afflicted with cell phone attachment disorder.
We don’t feel the same way about our tablets because, according to Smashing Magazine, they don’t bring out the same emotions that our cell phones do. We consider tablets to be an at-home device that we slide across our laps while watching the news on television. But lo! Our cell phones are an entirely different story. They evoke a sense of deep emotional connection to the outside world, no matter where we are.
"Cellphones are addictive in the same way slot machines are," said Dr. Fran Walfish, child, couple, and family psychotherapist and author in Beverly Hills, Calif., was reported as saying to the online publication, Medical Daily. "The immediacy of response, gratification, and excitation combine to make the user want more and want more now."
And so it was when a global PR firm asked me to test out the new Mate 8 from Huawei. The thought of holding a glossy new cell phone with a disproportionately large screen, compared to my infantile iPhone 4S, was too good to resist. An Android-operated device, the Mate 8 wowed me with its long battery life, its high fidelity in both sound and images. I couldn’t get the telephone aspect to work as my SIM card didn’t fit, but I fiddled with it nonetheless and discovered the pleasant relaxation of my middle-aged eyes gazing at a larger screen with better color definition. It felt a bit like treason, fondling the device while my iPhone sat sadly on my nightstand. But I soon tired of the Mate 8 because its operating system asked too many questions like a nosey, well-meaning neighbor who invites himself to be a part of your family barbecue. I didn’t need all the bells and whistles, which, my teenage son told me with practiced boredom, I could easily turn off. But how? The Mate 8 isn’t as intuitive as my iPhone and while it may have prettier, super model-like looks, it doesn’t have the steadfastness of an iPhone, which is more like a good friend who doesn’t ask all those questions, but rather is simply there for you when you need her. Besides, the size of it – with its elongated boxiness -- is more approximate to a tablet than a cell phone.
I won’t be feeling the attachment with Huawei’s new phone any time soon. Admittedly, I’m quite attached to the one I already have.
