Most remember the adage Necessity is the mother of invention. For centuries it was an axiom that rang true. Once upon a time, in order to take the necessary leap to grow the economy in the West, we had to mobilize society; thus, came trains, automobiles, and buses. To accommodate a high illiteracy rate in the early 20th century, and an influx of people who owned English as a second language, newspapers could no longer be the only means of disseminating information, and thus born was the radio. Similarly, “picture shows,” as cinema was once called, transitioned from silent film to “talkies.” Television was the next logical leap.
But what about the smartphone and social media? Were they logical leaps? Were they clamored-for entities thrust on an eager society, or did they buck the trend and leap to the front of the line? Many might agree it was the latter. I place myself in that camp. Why? We can tell an invention came too early by how it altered human behavior. I imagine that if the smartphone and social media spent a year undergoing testing in a thinktank, the report would read: this one is toxic, and that one is addictive. They would come with recommended disclaimers and protocols. I chuckle imagining a Surgeon General’s warning: highly addictive and will kidnap the teenage mind.
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