Cell De-Vision

I apologize for the title of this blog; I realize the severity of its wit could cause irony-overload in some of you.  If this happens, feel free to rant about it in the comments. Anyway...

Consider the following Socially Awesome Awkward Penguin meme below that I created to illustrate the theme of this post:

I hope the above has happened to none of you, but I'm also confident you've experienced a variation of this situation. Example: You're walking down the hallway, locked on to your phone, engrossed in the political/dramatic/hilarious conversation you're having with your BFF or SO or some other acronym-ed acquaintance; you feel people pass by you but take no notice otherwise; unbeknownst to you, you approach a doorway, a double doorway with a divider in the middle; you run directly into said divider, embarrassing yourself (but on the positive side giving witnesses something to laugh about later).

This is a classic case of "Cell De-Vision". Your attention was so focused on the heavy load task (heavy load meaning it demanded a large amount of your cognition to perform) of thinking about and typing your carefully worded message that you left no room for the perception of the metal pole in your way. This sort of thing happens all too often.

As humans, we are not good at multitasking. The brain is a wondrous thing, indeed, capable of many great things and infinite in capacity. But if there is one thing the brain certainly cannot do it's focus on two things at once. This seems intuitive and obvious to most people, but to illustrate just how impossibly hard it is, pop on Pandora, Spotify, or iTunes and listen to a song you don't know very well, then try to understand the words being sung as you read and comprehend a paragraph of this post.

If tried the above task, you failed, because it's not possible. Our brains cannot pay attention to multiple things at once; they can only switch back and forth rapidly between two different tasks. You may think this is an efficient way of doing things, alternating between tasks quickly in order to maximize efficiency and save time. However, this is a major myth about multitasking: trying to do two things that require a fair amount of cognition at once results in doing each of those tasks less efficiently, causing both the quality and speed of performance to suffer. This will not happen if each task is done separately.

Unfortunately, more hands doesn't mean more brains :(

But you might be saying, "C'mon, Seth, it's not as bad as you think. People still know whats's going on when using their phones, bro." I might argue that by saying it's really worse than you think. Picture a crowded/popular yet open place on your college campus or, if you're not a student, picture a department store or mall and imagine yourself talking/texting/surfing on your cellphone while walking through this crowded place. If there were a clown unicycling in the middle of this area, do you think you would notice? I mean, how often do you see a clown unicycling somewhere? Seems pretty hard to miss...

It turns out a psychologist--Dr. Ira Hyman of Washington University--and his crew performed this exact experiment in 2009; they put a unicycling clown in the middle of a trafficked, open place on campus and took note of everyone who was using their phone while walking through this area. They then rounded up those phone users and asked them this question: "Did you see the unicycling clown back there?"

How many do you think reported seeing the clown? Go on, think of a guess.

Well, it turns out that 75% of students using their phones did NOT notice the clown. Yes, you read that right. That is 3 out of 4, my friends. Take a minute to let that sink in...

This study illustrates a pertinent phenomenon that is a huge problem with cellphone users--inattentional blindness, which is failing to detect unexpected changes in our environment. Inattentional blindness helps explain why you didn't notice that divider that suddenly stood in your way and why people don't notice others in general while using their phones. Essentially, staring intently at your phone reduces both your environmental and self-awareness. You probably won't see your friend trying to wave you down across the way or realize just how slow you are moving, how obstructive you are to others, if focused on your phone. 

Of course, this extends to driving.  In another study conducted by Simon Hosking, Kristie Young and Michael Regan in 2006, the psychologists simulated driving tasks with a control group of non-phone users vs. people texting on their phones. It turned out the texters not only drove more slowly and had slower reaction times than the control group, but they spent up to 400% more time with their eyes off the road than the control. That means that there was 400% more of an opportunity for something unexpected to happen on the road, making it 400% more likely that that person would not detect this sudden change.

 PSA: Please, do not text and drive. I am guilty of doing this in the past, but nowadays if I really have to text someone, I call them. If I can't call them, I'll text them when I'm on a clear road with no other cars around or at stoplight, minimizing the potential collateral damage. 

This level of distraction is not exclusive to cellphones. Anything that requires a fair amount of cognitive load, such as changing songs on your iPod, eating, brushing your hair, etc., will leave you more susceptible to accidents and loss of self-awareness. Thus, I ask that you please think about this the next time you whip out your phone in the car or even in public. Consider others as you text while walking, knowing that you will probably walk more slowly and get in people's way. If you must text and walk, try to frequently look up and evaluate your surroundings, i.e. text a word or phrase, then look up and see where you're at in space, then type another word/phrase, evaluate surroundings, and so on. I've started practicing this technique recently and it's hard to describe how noticeable the difference in my awareness and walking speed really is.

Sure, the idea of cellphones is relatively new. People have only been texting each other for about 8 or 9 years. In time, we may become more habituated to it, making it a lower load task that requires less of our concentration. However, in the interim, something needs to change because it's getting to be a big problem.

Protip of the week: Don't fall prey to "Cell De-Vision"; be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Thanks for reading. If you agree/disagree/think I'm a condescending prick, feel free to say so in the comments.

Have a good weekend.