Sincere Interaction Over Empty Diversion

Yelena Gaufman speaks up in defence of meaningful app experiences in an age when we’re being driven to distraction

- Yelena Gaufman

Do you remember the last time you needed to unlock a blank phone, refresh your email, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter – and then repeat it seconds later having found nothing new or interesting? Maybe you felt a phantom vibration in your pocket or thought you caught a sneaky notification out of the corner of your eye.

This behaviour sounds bizarre when it’s written down but the ongoing tech distraction is an accepted part of our lives. After all, we all rely on our phones, so it should be no surprise we pay them so much attention. But according to some doctors, policymakers and increasingly us as users, these distractions appear symptomatic of something more sinister.

A study conducted by the Economist and the Kaiser Family Foundation recently discovered 23 per cent of British adults “always feel lonely”. Smartphones and social media are easy scapegoats here, particularly for young people. The same study, however, revealed almost as many young people find social media helpful as those who find it makes them feel worse. Maybe then the difference lies in which apps they’re using and how (not to mention, how often) they’re using them?

DIGITAL DETOX

Recently installed health secretary (and former ‘digital minister’) Matt Hancock is one of those policymakers who feels something drastic needs to be done. He has asked chief medical officer, Sally Davies, to draw up a new set of official guidelines on social media usage. He is reportedly doing this so that “individuals, schools and parents don’t have to decide” how to regulate usage amid concerns about tech addiction and its links to everything from anxiety and depression to serious sleep disorders.