英語學習:如何跟smartphone說分手

加拿大都市网

手机诈骗

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看到這標題,你可能不想再看下去。跟智能手機smartphone分手?今時今日很多人都會覺得是沒有可能。

Smartphone叫smartphone,因為它們實在很smart,多種用途集於一身,甚至可以說沒有什麼它是做不到的。一機傍身,就沒有憂愁,但問題是smartphone那麼重要,沒有它在身邊,我們豈不是什麼也做不到?

Smartphone不知不覺間,已變成生活不可缺少的部分,我們和smartphone的關係,甚至可以形容為難捨難離,這有問題嗎?

分心減專註

Eric Andrew-Gee在」Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can』t you put it down!?」一文中,就指出使用smartphone帶來的的種種嚴重問題,這不是他自說自話,而是很多最新研究的結論。最大問題是smartphone令我們分心,減低專註力——「our ability to focus」。

Consider the effect smartphones have on our ability to focus. In 2015, Microsoft Canada published a report indicating that the average human attention span(持續時間段)had shrunk from 12 to eight seconds between 2000 and 2013. The finding was widely reported at the time and elicited some shock – for about eight seconds.

Focus用作動詞解pay particular attention to,to concentrate on,集中、側重做某事;例如︰We should focus our study on the materials that will be covered in the examination.(我們應該集中溫習考試範圍內的課文。)

Elicit解引出,跟illicit串法和讀音相近,但意思就全無關係。Illicit解違法的、違禁的、不正當的,to carry on an illicit relationship解維持一段不正當的關係;例如︰The shop has been carrying on an illicit trade of smuggled cigarettes.(那商店售賣私煙。)

不斷使用smartphone其中一個副作用是令我們的專註力愈來愈低。Attention span是可以專註的時間,2000與2013年間,由12秒下降至8秒。

A recent study of Chinese middle schoolers(中學生)found something similar. Among more than 7,000 students, mobile phone ownership was found to be 「significantly associated」 with levels of inattention seen in people with attention-deficit disorder(注意力缺乏症、多動症).

就算自控地使用,smartphone也會影響使用者的腦力:

Even people who are disciplined(有紀律的)about their smartphone use feel the effect. The devices exert such a magnetic pull on our minds that just the effort of resisting the temptation(誘惑)to look at them seems to take a toll on our mental performance.

損親子關係

同樣受損害的是親子關係︰

Being connected(連繫)to everyone all the time makes us less attentive to the people we care about most. Nowhere is the alienating(使疏遠)power of smartphones more troubling(令人困擾)than in the relationship between parents and children. Put simply, smartphones are making mothers and fathers pay less attention to their kids and it could be causing emotional harm.

Catherine Price的How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life,教你如何與smartphone建立健康的關係。