FROM THE AGE OF REASON TO THE AGE OF DISTRACTION

When is technology too much? Author Tiffany Shlain shares her thoughts on our collective and ubiquitous addiction to our tablets, cellphones and computers

- CECE M. SCOTT

It is bizarre to grasp the undeniable fact that in the last 25 years, the Internet and social media have become such an integrated, intrinsic part of our collective modus operandi that we have become completely and utterly hooked. We chat on our phones in the car, text in the bathroom, bring our devices to the dining room table — like a side plate waiting to go off. And then, of course, there is the furtively (sometimes even unabashedly) searching, Googling, tweeting, posting and liking under the covers in our bedroom. What is scary and actually concerning is that our technological devices have become so integral to our lives, so 24-7, that constant access has become akin to the actual physicality of breathing. Plug it in; breathe; log on; breathe; search and surf; breathe; text and like; breathe; take a selfie; breathe; post; breathe. The only action that is not a constant is the logging off from all of our devices — computers, tablets and cellphones. And that is the issue that author Tiffany Shlain, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards (popularly known as the Oscars of the Web), addresses in her new book, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week (Gallery Books, 2019).

With a career that has been deeply immersed in technology, Shlain’s overriding interest is centred in the connectivity that technology facilitates. “I am excited about the potential of how technology connects us with people and ideas,” Shlain says. “I never imagined that all this potential would disconnect us with the people and ideas that are happening right in front of us. I love technology; I just don’t love it 24/7.”