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- Jul 14, 2019
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The proliferation of smartphones represents a profound shift in the relationship between consumers and technology. Across human history, the vast majority of innovations have occupied a defined space in consumers’ lives; they have been constrained by the functions they perform and the locations they inhabit. Smartphones transcend these limitations. They are consumers’ constant companions, offering unprecedented connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They play an integral role in the lives of billions of consumers worldwide and, as a result, have vast potential to influence consumer welfare—both for better and for worse.
Although we have primarily focused on the cognitive costs associated with the presence of smartphones, our research is equally relevant to the potential implications of their absence. Discussions of “disconnection” in popular culture reflect increasing consumer interest in intentionally reducing—or at least controlling—the extent to which they interact with their devices (e.g., Perlow 2012; Harmon and Mazmanian 2013). Some consumers are replacing their smartphones with feature phones (i.e., phones lacking the advanced functionality of smartphones; Thomas 2016), others are supplementing their smartphones with stripped-down devices that offer “a short break from connectedness” (http://www.thelightphone.com/), and still others are turning to apps that track, filter, and limit smartphone usage (e.g., https://inthemoment.io/). Our research suggests that these measures may be doubly beneficial for the digitally weary; by redefining the relevance of their devices, these consumers may both reduce digital distraction and increase available cognitive capacity. More broadly, our research contributes to the growing discussion among consumers and marketers alike about the influence of technology on consumers—and consumers on technology—in an increasingly connected world.
Completely agreed.It comes down to the person, if they are using a smartphone to conduct their decisions and thoughts, than that's bad. Everyone should always try to think for themselves, and never rely on someone or something to think for them (because if you do, you are sacrificing your liberty).
I feel like smartphones have great potential for those who have the ingenuity to unlock it, but it's convenience to do some tasks for you comes with a risk for sure. I think younger generations are threatened more with technological reliance than older generations are, though.
Well a lot of these things are not anything new. The only difference is now they are located in a common place and can be accessed anywhere. We've had calculators aid us to do math problems before smartphones, we'd write addresses and phone numbers in address books, we'd also create photo albums with the pictures we took.I think the studies undertaken thus far have been less to prove that we are letting these devices think for us, and more that they function for us.
So yes, there will be some that use their phones as cheap research tools to disingenuously 'prove' ill advised points they are making. However that is not an issue exclusive to smartphones, it's merely made more convenient by this. The crux of these pieces of research is more to explore the idea that they will act as memory banks so our brains don't need too. They will do mathematical problems for us so we don't need to. They store numbers of friends, pictures of holidays, address of local businesses, all so our brain doesn't need too.
The effect of this is so far unproved, yet seems to point in the direction that our brains operate in a fundamentally different way precisely because they don't need to anymore when we actively use our smartphones.