Technology can be a blessing and a curse, striking a balance between being glued to our screens and Luddite dreams of a cabin in the woods with no electronics. The reality is that our always-on society has yielded a step function in efficiency, communication, and accessibility. However, it has also ushered in a new level of angst, obsession, and distraction. The average American smartphone user spends four hours and twenty-five minutes daily on their devices, and 56.9 percent admit they are addicted to their cell phone. For those who understand the mechanisms of addiction, the smartphone becomes a challenging habit to break, further exacerbated by the army of behavioral psychologists and machine-learning specialists who work for the app companies to keep us doomed to scrolling our lives away. Is there…
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Overland Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, Fall 2024