The Cell Phone Effect
I’ve been searching for an image that captures our post-Covid cell phone social media attention economy culture. This short clip from Batman Forever (1995) is a way of understanding what Facebook, X (Twitter), Google, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Amazon, or whatever your favorite media addiction is doing to our brains and our personal information. You can add ‘influencer’ to the list.
Like Edward, Big Tech is soaking up our brain and our ability to socialize with people we know and don’t know. It has deepened the divide in our Nation and around the world with meme think, meme insult, and digital mob mentality. It has normalized “alternative facts.” I’m a GenX’er. They thought TV would rot the brain.
Do yourself a favor. Digital detox or rehab. Oh, it’s not lost on me that one must rely on a screen to read this scribbling. I’m suggesting set limits to who you give access to your attention and brain. You’ll be better for it.