A little over 10 years ago, I created a social experiment at the university where I worked: a campus-wide screen-free day. Students, faculty and staff were all invited to participate so that all instruction, meetings, and interactions would occur, for a whole-day, without the aid/distraction of technology. Well, maybe not a whole day. . .
The more we discussed it with groups on campus, the more we saw the problem – even before the experiment began. People were very intimidated by a day-long commitment to not using a screen (keep in mind this was 10 years ago). So rather than make a t-shirt that people would wear, we made a button they could take on and off to indicate to others that you were a part of the experiment.
The button read: “I’m turned off”
Yes, it was meant to have a double-meaning. Because I was watching student after student sit in the lounge outside my office, with a device in their hands, as their expressions changed with each social interaction. One moment, they were working on a paper; and the next, they were depressed or enraged or breaking the silence with a comment about something that they have little control over.
It was then that I learned just how important boundaries are; and it has been my field of research ever since. Which is why I watched The Social Dilemma this past week.
The documentary is a lot of what many of us already know: that there is a direct correlation between social media and mental health. What struck me is how much more direct and confident the presentation of this fact has become over the years; because the more time that goes by, the better our data becomes.
Is technology a still a tool that we use, or have the tables turned?
This is not to say technology is bad; in fact, it is quite the opposite. However, the question our actions should cause us to ask is if technology is a still a tool that we use, or have the tables turned? Perhaps we are not simply users (it is helpful to think about the associations with that term), but that we are also being used.
Perhaps it is time to experiment again, knowing what we know now? Perhaps we will be convinced to make some changes? Perhaps we will see just how connected everything really is: our mental health, our political divide, our inequality and inequity, etc. Then, perhaps, technology can be the tool we all want it to be: to connect us to views we would otherwise miss, and make our lives better.