Society’s Self Destructive Addiction to Faster Living Paper

As a society, most people in America are becoming addicted to faster living. In the article

Society’s Self Destructive Addiction to Faster Living the author Dr. Stephanie Brown states “You

always move forward and there are no limits to how far you can go or how fast you can get there.

Don’t pause, don’t reflect. You win or lose. You’ll fall behind and fail if you stop moving. Fast

at any cost is the mantra of a stressed and distressed American society today.” The main

contributors that are causing society to become addicted to faster living are technology, and

multitasking.

One of the main causes of society’s addiction to faster paced living is the use of

technology today. One way technology has assisted in society’s addiction to faster living is

because people can now find out almost anything they want with a click of a finger. This has

caused a lot of people to become impatient and lazy with their attention and their ability to find

out information in their own way. Dr. Stephanie Brown states “Researchers note that this push

for speed is changing the way people think. The need to be efficient and instant leads to a

dumbing down of information intake so that people become scanners and “decoders” of

information, cruising horizontally across the screen to pick up bytes, rather than delving towards

a deeper understanding.” Technology has also helped people feel like they are more connect now

than before. Instead of having an in person connection, today people can call, facetime, text,

snapchat, etc. in a matter of seconds and feel like they are actually really connecting with others.

In the article Cell Phone Addiction: Is It Really A Problem, author Roderick Green states “Jay

Donovan, a writer, TED talk contributor, and self-described technology junkie, cited research

indicating that American children received their first smartphone around age 10. The same article

described tablet computers as a child’s entertainment of choice during car rides. It also indicated

that 64% of kids had access to the Internet by their own device, and 39% of them had a social

media account by age 11. If we consider these statistics as totally benign, we may miss the

impact “smart” devices have on our psyche.” Another really interesting concept that Green stated

in his article, is a four question questionnaire that can help determine if someone is addicted to

technology. The first question asked in the questionnaire is “Do you freak out if your not if

you’re not connected (misplaced phone, lack of service, poor internet connection, etc.)? Do you

object either silently or overtly when asked to put your phone away? Do you experience

cravings, withdrawals or anxiety if you don’t check your phone a frequent number of times

throughout the day, no matter where you are or what you’re doing? Do you get anxious, nervous

or fidgety if you don’t check your phone or tablet when you first open your Eyes after a brief nap

or longer period of sleep? Just like the CAGE questionnaire, two or more yes answers are cause

for concern.” (Green) Many people feel that technology has been a very beneficial tool for our

society, and it has. Technology has improved all of our lives in many different ways. However,

Arianna Huffington who is the CEO of Thrive Global states that “it’s consuming our attention

and crippling our ability to focus, think, be present, and truly connect with ourselves and the

world around us.”

Another cause of society’s addiction to faster living is the use of multitasking amongst

society. Multitasking occurs when someone tries to complete one or more task simultaneously.

In a study that looked at two experimental groups and one control group too see the effects of

multitasking in the classroom, the results showed that students who were allowed to multitask

`during lecture and use their cell phones or laptops, their grade performance was lower than

students who were told to only take notes just using pen and paper. ( Demirbilek and Talan)

The authors Muhammet Demirbilek and Tarik Talan also state that “switching from one task to

another requires a change of focus and attention (Delbridge, 2001), which requires redirecting

activities. The limited capacity model suggests that our ability to perform concurrent tasks is

limited due to resources being assigned to each sub-process working simultaneously at one

another’s expense.”

Overall, society is becoming addicted to a fast paced lifestyle in which people are

attached to their cell phones, and in order to complete tasks they multitask and get more than one

things done at once.

I researched this subject academically by thinking about all the things that are

contributing to society’s addiction to faster living. In my opinion, the main reasons that society is

becoming addicted to faster living are technology, multitasking. I choose this topic to research

because I thought it was really interesting. Growing up in one of the first generations that had the

ability to use technology whenever, I can see the effects it has had on us. Also, I always here

people of older generations saying that they never had the ability to use technology. In my

opinion, I think that it must’ve been a calmer life without the use of technology and multitasking.

At first, I wanted to incorporate hip hop dance into my dance to show how fast people can

actually move. To research this subject physically I wanted to create a dance where I was

addicted to my cell phone, multitasking, and living a fast paced life. At the beginning of my

dance, I showed myself laying in bed and the first thing I did when I woke up was roll over and

check my phone. Another thing I tried to incorporate in my dance was when I was getting ready

for the day in the mirror, I kept thinking about my phone and going back to check on it. Finally,

to show my addiction to faster living in my dance, I ran around trying to show how fast I was

trying to move throughout the day. Overall, I think that my performance went well. I found it

challenging to perform in front of the class but I tried to just remember my dance. I incorporated

the elements of the entire semester into my dance because I focused a lot on what we learned

about choreography. I tried to make the dance moves I choose cohesive with the music and

lighting of the room. Another way I incorporated the elements of what we learned this semester

in class to my dance was adding someone of the movements we learned in class. I tried to add

some of the modern dance movements we tried out in class to my dance.