Don't get me wrong, I love Steve Jobs. I love him so much I even love fake Steve Jobs. I have an iPhone tattooed on my iPhone.
And, Steve lover that I am, I can't help but notice that he's now pronounced the death of the written word. Here is real Steve, dissing the Kindle:
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.”
And, so, I think the iPhone the sign of the apocalypse. The issue is multi-tasking and focus. Focus is a meta-power. It helps to align and lift up other powers, like reason and problem-solving and other powers I would remember if I weren't also texting right now.
See, multi-tasking, it turns outs, downshifts your brain both temporarily and permanently. Your brain literally atrophies (shrinks - size matters) from the stress of mental shifting. So it's a lot like blowing the transmission on your Porsche - only there's no dealer left. Anywhere. And so you're just sitting there screwed in the driveway until your metaphor runs out of steam.
Multi-tasking makes you more prone to hypnosis and can precipitate huge tactical errors. See the immortal Richard Armitage quote that fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan would be like walking and chewing gum at the same time. Sure, it's fine when you're drinking coffee while driving 90 MPH south on I-75 and texting the babysitter not to give the kids sugar. But sometimes, things might get dangerous, you know?
The real trick is that we don't think that it's getting is. We still feel like we're in control of our full capabilities, because we're conscious of concentrating. But thinking about concentrating saps some of our brainpower. It's like keeping the TV Guide up on the screen. It feels like we're watching TV, but there's no way to actually get into the show.
Pretty soon, one of those days will come when the sky falls - storm, invasion, etc - and our brain will have literally forgotten how to focus. And we just won't have that rigid determination of mind anymore that has saved the ass of humanity quite a few times until now.
God, I love my iPhone. But it could just be the most beautiful objet d'art that ever caused my self-annihilation. Sometimes, I can feel my brain just dissolving as I switch between candy icons.
Anyway, maybe I'll buy a Kindle, dive into a deep book, something by Kierkegard. It only displays four shades of gray. That can't be too distracting, can it?
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