Does Technology Control You?
Over the past ten years, everything from our TVs to our modes of communication, have been digitized, and while this comes with obvious advantages, it also comes with intense interpersonal and business challenges. That blinking smartphone light makes it challenging to get away from work; the onslaught of information from “friends” on Twitter and Facebook makes us feel vaguely connected rather than deeply fulfilled. Wired devices, laptops and tablets serve as constant distractions to family life and authentic time with friends.
And yet, while we know that there is too much technology in our lives, the pace of life suggests that we cannot function without a device of some sort attached at all times. To help combat the relentlessness of being in constant “contact” with the world, recovering technology junkie and CBS tech correspondent Daniel Sieberg has written The Digital Diet: The 4-Step Plan to Break Your Tech Addiction and Regain Balance in Your Life. With empathy and humor, Sieberg shares his own story – he calculated that his online addictions were stealing about thirty solid days from his life each year – while also outlining a flexible, reasonable 28-day “cleanse” that will help readers regain a sense of control over their machines.
Far from a diatribe, The Digital Diet recognizes the necessity and importance of devices, while also insisting that too much technology damages our relationships and makes us unhealthy in mind, body and spirit.
While the premise may seem a little trite – just lock in a little extra discipline and power down your devices, right? – we found it interesting and helpful because it not only offers insightful research on the negative impacts of too much technology, but it also asks deeper questions about why we have become so absorbed in our online lives: Why are we using it? How does it impact us? Why do we need it? Sieberg’s process, which details a detox leading to what he calls “sustainable intake,” is realistic and doable, so long as you’re committed to the cause and convinced of its importance.
