3 reasons why we are addicted to smartphones
Apple recently announced the launch of its iPhone 8 and iPhone X, which come with sleek, new features. Apple also hopes to start a new community around the iPhones. Ahead of the launch, Angela Ahrendts, head of retail at Apple, said their stores will be called “Town Squares,” and would double as public spaces, complete with outdoor plazas, indoor forums and boardrooms. The much-anticipated product launch was followed by millions who watched the event via livestream and on internet forums, blogs and in the news media. I, too, was among them. So, what draws people to these phones? Surely, it is not just the groundbreaking design or the connection with a community. As a minister, psychotherapist and scholar studying our relationship with hand-held devices, I believe there is much more going on. In fact, I’d argue, as I do in my book “Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age,” the phones tap into our basic yearnings as humans. Here are my three re...
