Our Smartphones Are Manipulating Us
With their constant beeps, alerts and notifications — while quietly collecting vast amounts of our data — our devices create comforting bonds that keep us reaching for them again and again. The duration and frequency of daily smartphone use keep climbing, particularly among younger people. This trend has become a global worry, prompting phone bans in schools across Canada, the United States and other countries.
Social media, gaming, streaming and even interactions with AI chatbots all intensify this pull on our attention. Yet, to fully grasp the issue, we must focus on the phones themselves rather than just what we do on them.
The Emotional Architecture of Devices
“Our phones – and now our watches – have become animated beings in our lives.”
In her book Needy Media: How Tech Gets Personal, the author explains that these devices form emotional connections with us by detecting our presence and responding to our bodies. Loaded with technologies designed to engage our senses and emotions, smartphones generate a deceptive sense of intimacy that keeps us hooked.
How Devices Demand Our Attention
- Face recognition and geolocation enhance personalization.
- Touchscreens, vibration and sound alerts trigger sensory involvement.
- Audio and motion sensors anticipate and respond to our actions.
While each feature alone may seem harmless, together they portray the phone as a deeply personal, sensitive companion that always “needs” our attention — even as it continually harvests our data.
Author’s Summary
Smartphones have evolved into emotionally responsive tools that shape our behaviors and absorb our attention, blurring the line between empathy and manipulation.