As an autistic person, one of the reasons I favour basic phones, is that smartphones are actually quite distressing - painful even - for me to use. Unless I have managed to go to extreme lengths such as flashing a de-Googled AOSP ROM with ad-blocking hosts file, and minimal utilitarian apps to the phone (i.e. phone/camera/SMS), the sheer sensory overload from such a device (even with as many notifications reduced/blocked as I can manage) is too much. In fact, the sheer overload I get just while I’m configuring a new device away from its default settings to be less overwhelming, is more stress than it’s worth.
This is what the rest of the world is now experiencing, thanks to constant barrages of notifications, endless-scroll feeds, 24/7 availability and suchlike. They are experiencing exactly the same sensory overload, it’s just that their threshold is higher and they don’t realise that this is what’s happening. And as a result, I am seeing the same behaviour (and outright meltdowns) from neurotypical adults, that I learned to manage when I was still a kid.
I have relatives who I used to love being around, who I don’t speak to any more, because shortly after getting smartphones for the first time, their personalities gradually changed, and now (to put it bluntly) they’re complete and utter a-holes. They can’t hold an adult conversation, have forgotten how to debate (or even think) rationally, are impatient, obnoxious and rude, stressed all the time, and get angry if anything (including a real interaction with a person physically present) interrupts their glazed dead gaze into a glowing screen. The main thing I’ve noticed is the extreme polarisation. If you don’t wholeheartedly agree with them word-for-word, you’re some sort of alien, sub-human, “other” who is the ultimate evil and can’t possibly be right. They also have such painfully-short attention-spans, even my 3 year-old is doing better. That article really resonated, because it really is like they’ve been snorting way too much coke for way too long.
The changes were initially very subtle and were very gradual, so I wasn’t aware of it at first. And that’s the big problem. It’s like a death by a thousand cuts. I think some very bad personality-changes are happening all around and hardly anyone is noticing because “it’s not me, it’s those crazy Trump supporters” or “those BLM thugs again” or whatever. Nobody sees the changes in themselves, just in “those other idiots”.
I know correlation isn’t necessarily causation, but there’s a bit of documentary evidence of a link scattered about the 'net already, plus I started spotting similar uncharacteristic behaviours in myself when I was using Facebook, and think they have subsided since I stopped using it. I’m now attempting to be vigilant and watching-out for these behavioural patterns in myself. Not an infallible approach, but at least I have an awareness I can hopefully have a better chance of spotting it.
I’m aware there are a lot of factors here at play (e.g. “dark patterns” in interface-design, psychological manipulation by various companies or groups), but I’m sure that overstimulation is making us more susceptible to those other factors, and amplifying their ability to stress and damage us.