This post is the introduction of my book HOMO CELLULARIS: HOW DIGITAL DEVICES HAVE CHANGED US AND WHAT WE NEED TO EVOLVE NEXT.
Technology develops and it’s rare that we ever ask what’s it all for. At times it seems like technology is developing towards something – some specific goal that we’ve been striving for. But at other times it seems that tech is only developing towards an undefined sense of MORE. More speed, more productivity, more money… more, more, and more.
That said, it’s crucial to scale back every now and again and ask what we’re doing this for. Only then can we ask if this development is good for us… and if it’s not… readjust our course.
No matter what tech is for, it’s not worth it if it doesn’t help us live what the Greeks once called the good life – a life that is authentic, lived fully to its own potential, and lived in step with our deepest held values.
Further, I would venture that digital technology has a great potential to bring us closer to the good life. Why? Because tech expands us. It allows us to communicate more, to learn more, to see more, to be more. Tech gives us seemingly superhuman powers – abilities that humans of past generations could only dream of. And yet, many would say that it’s not in our best interest. They would say that tech makes life more convenient, but not more authentic. Add to this that our devices, in expanding our powers, have expanded our capacity for folly and mistake as well.
When Adam and Eve ate from the apple of the forbidden tree, their powers were increased. They could now separate good from evil. Suddenly, they knew they were naked. And the next thing you know they were out on their asses in the mud learning how to toil for their food.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. It was necessity, outside of Eden, that made mankind into a race of inventors. But each invention itself is another piece of the forbidden fruit.
The smartphone is among the tastiest and most dangerous of these forbidden fruits. Like that ancient apple it has increased our powers, but also taken us farther from Eden. In increasing our power for communication, it has robbed us of our ability to manage that communication. In allowing us to share images and words in the cloud, we have lost the ability to effectively secure our privacy. And in making us nearly omnipresent via the omnipresence of the internet, we have become scattered and unfocused.
But the gates to Eden are guarded, so says the tale, by a spinning sword of fire. In other words, there is no going back.
SCATTERED, EXPOSED, AND DISTRACTED
Why do we like digital technology?
We know that, in many ways, digital devices make it harder for us to live the good life. They beep and buzz, calling us away from important moments, sinking us into spirals of distraction and procrastination on social media sites, embarrassing us and undermining us with ill-timed notifications and unwanted breeches of our privacy, and so on. So really, why do we like them?
Wasn’t life simpler without them?
Wasn’t it better?
Perhaps. But still, who among us wants to lose to the power that they have given us? The power to never be lost! The power to communicate easily with anyone, anywhere, at any time! The power to order a pizza on an app without having to call a delivery line! And so on!
I wouldn’t give up on all that. Even with the difficulties and psychological strife that we now associate with the age of constant digital connectedness, I wouldn’t want to move backwards. And so I have to imagine that it was the same for Adam and Eve – that knowledge was sweet, and that they wouldn’t trade in their newfound power even if they had the choice.
What’s left for us then is not to regress – to shrink ourselves and shirk our newly expanded powers— but to continue evolving so that we may use these powers for good.
WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
Our devices and platforms have become extensions of ourselves. Virtual reality is reality, and with this comes new powers: the power to communicate instantly around the globe; the power to share and preserve data; and the power to be everywhere at once.
In short, digital technology has caused us to evolve. But do we like what we’ve become?
Homo Cellularis is an in-depth look at this question. This book tackles the issue of technology and how it affects our sense of self, balance, and privacy; as well as looking into the effect of technology on our family structures, work lives, and mental health.
What makes this book different from other books on the effects of digital technology is that Homo Cellularis is not anti-tech. Written by four professionals coming from the fields of telecommunication, cyber security, IT, and public opinion, Homo Cellularis is a challenge to modern consumers and product developers: how can we keep evolving with our technology without giving up on our privacy, work-life balance, and wellbeing?
More importantly, how do we push our tech to evolve with us?
The first three chapters are about the effect that devices have had on human life in the 21st century – explaining how we have “outsourced” aspects of our selfhood to our devices in order to broaden the scope of our human abilities.
These chapters articulate both the symptoms and the causes of what I call “technological schizophrenia,” the smartphone-induced condition of being undermined and overwhelmed by one’s own digital presence. This condition occurs principally because technology is a double-edged sword. For each human power that technology helps to expand, there is a corresponding loss of control over an important aspect of our lives.
Chapters Four, Five, and Six examine this in depth – tackling both the powers enlarged by tech and the toll that this enlargement takes.
Chapter Four looks at how technology allows us to communicate more, but threatens our ability to communicate effectively and with nuance.
Chapter Five looks at how technology allows us greater ease with the sharing and storing of data, but diminishes our ability to secure our privacy.
Chapter Six looks at how technology allows us to focus on more things at once, but gets in the way of our ability to focus deeply on one thing at a time.
Chapter Seven outlines how technology – the cause of our digital disease – is also the cure.
Our solution is technological, but our concerns are for the human spirit, which is not generally seen as the purview of tech developers and product marketers.
It ought to be – and it is for us.
What started as a conversation between friends has evolved into both a product and a book – both aimed at improving how we live with technology, and making sure that technology serves us in the deepest possible way.
Without considering the human spirit, tech will continue to progress, but it will not progress toward anything. It will not give us the good life.
We believe tech is capable of bringing us that life, and we have written this book to show you how.
"It's getting harder and harder to differentiate between schizophrenics and people talking on a cell phone. It still brings me up short to walk by somebody who appears to be talking to themselves.” Bob Newha
This post is the introduction of my book HOMO CELLULARIS: HOW DIGITAL DEVICES HAVE CHANGED US AND WHAT WE NEED TO EVOLVE NEXT. Click here to read the following chapter.
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