According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans own a cellphone with 77% owning a smartphone. That means we are forever connected to the world of social media. It’s not enough to go out to a nice dinner, you need to prove it by taking a pic of it. It seems that by trying to show off the great life you have, you are missing out on living it authentically. For others it means not recognizing when you or a friend may be in danger. Dr Lee Hadlington from Leicester’s De Montfort University in England conducted research on what happens to people when they use their phones and the internet constantly. Hadlington found the more they are used the more folks experience, “cognitive failures.”Hadlington said the result is the same whether the person has internet on their phone or not, or if they are texting.
His research was published on the Computers in Human Behaviour journal.
Case in point, the video that has surface online.
What caused the brawl is unclear.
This is alarming enough. It’s her friend, however who is getting all the attention.
As the video shows, the young woman is on her phone the whole time her friend is fighting off her aggressors.
“We don’t know what’s actually happening to our cognition when we are using this technology and that’s the important thing,” Hadlington explained.
Hadlington’s study included interviewing 107 men and 103 women between the ages of 18 and 65.
The lack of awareness ranged from forgetting why they have moved from one room of the house to another, missing appointments, and even daydreaming in the middle of a conversation.
Rather than help, she continued to be on her phone.
They opened the side of the door she was sitting on.
She glanced up but seemed emotionally and physically detached.
Many users have commented how she is a terrible friend.
Still, there is a third theory; she was faking being on the phone.
Not even when the attention was turned on her, did she react.
In his paper Hadlington says there should be a balance.
“We are always eager to get the new piece of tech — but not to think about its underlying consequences to our cognitive capabilities,” he warned.
Although her friend may have to have a heart to heart talk with her.
->**Watch this young woman’s lack of response when her friend is attacked.**<-