SMART PHONES AS AN AUGMENTATION OF OUR SENSORY RECEPTORS: HELP OR HINDRANCE?

 

The quantity of information available to people has been rapidly increasing over the last two centuries. The lowering cost of dissemination of data through Books, newspapers, radio, television and internet have allowed information to reach to masses as never before. Until a few years ago there was a time lag between one’s desire to have the information and actually getting it. You had to go to the library, bookshop or to the newspaper vendor etc.  You had to wait for the news on radio and television. Now information is becoming instantaneous with advent of mobile phone/computer technology. These nifty machines are becoming almost an appendage of one’s body providing extra receptors for multiple sensorial stimuli; auditory, visual, even tactile. Now humans can see much more, hear much more.

 We are now always in touch with a greatly expanded virtual reality. We are not just hearing the sounds in our near vicinity but also what a protester is saying in Cairo or Bahrain hundreds of miles away. You are not just seeing your own neighbouring environment but also what is happening in other parts of the world.  You are not limited to listening or talking to people around you but can do with people all over the world.  It was available before but with a time lag not in real time now.

 When you see something interesting in a shop you can check immediately on your mobile if a better model or a lower price is being offered somewhere else. It is really an extension of your own vision and auditory capabilities. You may see so many different offers that you cannot decide which one to buy. 

Our human visual system can only “see” a very narrow range of the available electromagnetic radiation (EMR) wavelengths from about 390 to 750 nm.  Our natural visual acuity is also very limited.  At 12 inches, the normal visual acuity of the human eye is 0.00349 inch. What this means is that if you had alternating black and white lines that were all 0.00349 inch wide, it would appear to most people as a mass of solid gray. If the object is far away it has to be much bigger to be seen with naked eyes. If our resolution becomes much higher we can see the tiny parasites, bacteria and pollens etc at a close range and details of Saturn’s ring and Moon’s craters at a long range. If we can perceive more of the EMR range we can see the ultraviolet and infrared emissions.

This instant ability to see more, hear more is a help or a hindrance to us?

The primary purpose of the senses is to help us to explore our environment effectively to ensure our survival. Humans are at the highest ladder of evolution only because we can explore our environment more effectively than other species. For exploring more effectively does not mean having more acute senses. Eagles do have much higher visual acuity and dogs can here ultrasonic waves, bees can see the ultraviolet light.  If we can see more, hear more, smell more it will not necessarily make our life better rather I think, bombarded with that much data we will be completely bogged down.

 Imagine seeing all the mites in your bed you are about to lie in and the bacteria on the lips you are about to kiss.  To be able to hear even the faintest sound will make deafness sound like bliss. Decision making is certainly improved with more data but not just any data. It has to be relevant and accurate data. Too much data input will make it difficult to effectively filter the bad data and thus make the decision unreliable at best and downright lethal at worst.

That is why over the millions of years of evolution we have settled for consciously perceiving only a limited range of sensory input discarding higher and lower ranges.

I am not saying that technology and information should not be made available but maybe we should not use it as a substitute of our innate sensory inputs.