Angry Robot

We Are Hopelessly Hooked by Jacob Weisberg

Hooked by smartphones, the internet, the manipulation of our natures by scheming app designers. According to one of the books in this review, there is the risk of a lack of empathy, and various other social dysfunctions among those who grow up with their social lives mediated by digital tech. The proposed solutions are so obviously not up to the challenge that it’s almost laughable (Gmail should ask how long you want to use it for?)

Anyone with more than an incidental knowledge of anything like meditation, mindfulness, or Buddhism will suspect that the answer comes when we learn how to direct our attention, to control our crazy li’l monkey minds – and it’s far from a new problem, although it sure seems amplified these days.

• February 9, 2016, 12:43 pm |