Not all technology is bad, though; many beneficial uses of technology exist. We have all probably used spell-check software to remove embarrassing typos or artificial intelligence to do research for an assignment. As I’m writing this line, I have Microsoft Word open to write this article, Firefox open to research it and Taylor Swift’s “Suburban Legends” playing in my headphones. I use lots of technology.

And you probably do, too. Unless you are reading this article in the December 2023 print edition of the “Hilltop Monitor”, you are using a device of some kind—whether mobile phone, tablet, or laptop—to read this. Technology can serve humanity in all sorts of ways. We cannot deny that we are living in the Information Age.

But this relationship—technology serving humanity—is often reversed.

The Culprits
In an essay for New York Magazine, ominously titled “I Used to Be A Human Being,” Andrew Sullivan draws our attention to what seems a very simple statement. Mobile phones are, well, mobile. “At your desk at work, or at home on your laptop, you disappeared down a rabbit hole of links and resurfaced minutes (or hours) later to reencounter the world. But the smartphone then went and made the rabbit hole portable, inviting us to get lost in it anywhere, at any time, whatever else we might be doing.”

The emergence of the Information Age, especially social media, creates three critical problems.

1. Quantification of Social Standing
Social media causes the quantification of social standing. In other words, social standing now comes with numbers attached. Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook all show (publicly!) how many people follow you and how many people interact with your posts. Snapchat shows you a Snapscore that increases every time you send someone a picture. YikYak has a leaderboard of people who use it, sorted by how many upvotes you receive.

These numbers on social media are a double-edged sword. Research from the University of Florida shows a significant negative impact on users’ mental health. People who look at “upward” connections—i.e., profiles that indicate the profile’s creator is “better off” than the viewer—came away with “deflated self-esteem.” In contrast, when people look at content indicating other users are “worse off”, they feel better about themselves. We trade short-term benefits for long-term detriment—while people do feel better in the short term, they do so at the expense of others.

2. Information Overload
We suffer from information overload. We have access to worlds of knowledge at our fingertips: nearly two and a half quintillion bytes per day. If you type into Google the words, “how much information is available to us right now,” Google returns this:

This does not seem to be a problem per se. Sure, there is a lot of information to sort, but there is nothing wrong with the information existing. Processing that information, though, requires our attention. As such, humans have to triage; we discern what is important, focus on those bits and disregard the rest.

However, the internet puts that system into overdrive. “Viewing and producing blogs, videos, tweets and other units of information called memes have become so cheap and easy that the information marketplace is inundated,” write Thomas Hills and Filippo Menczer of Scientific American. We do not have the ability to effectively parse everything, so our biases take over.

This inability to fully process stimuli activates what I call our “lizard brain.” We are unable to determine fact from fiction or beneficial information from bologna. Critical thinking ceases and we are open to misinformation. We need only look back two years to understand the cost of such misinformation. A Brown University analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic estimates that 319,000 lives could have been saved with vaccinations. That is ten times the population of Liberty, Missouri!

3. Virtual Substitution
Social media, messaging apps and podcasts serve as a virtual substitution for human contact. This does not seem like it should be a problem, either. After all, research exists linking “[the] quantity of one’s virtual interaction partners… [and] better mental health at both the daily level and the weekly level.”

Virtual interactions are wonderful, especially when distance makes in-person interactions impractical or impossible. But if we lack meaningful physical contact (because we limit our interactions to being virtual), we do not benefit as much. Multiple studies indicate that in-person interactions are more fulfilling; Zoom fatigue is real!

We have to take time to talk to the people we care about. If distance makes doing so impossible, maybe give the person a phone or video call. It is so much better than texting, as we can hear a person’s voice or see their face in a call.

The Solution
So what can we do? Fortunately, the Internet has plenty of information on how to avoid the devastating effects of the Internet. (Ironic, I know.) A notable work in this field is Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. In the latter half of his book, Newport provides solutions to escape the world of technology. I have used his recommendations to outline three easy recommendations and one difficult recommendation for busy college students.

The whole text of Digital Minimalism is worth a read; if you want to read it, it is available here for free from the Internet Archive. (Quick shoutout to the Internet Archive!)

1. Walk to Class Alone
In 1845, transcendentalist and author Henry David Thoreau expressed concern about an overly interconnected world. “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas,” wrote Thoreau in Walden, “but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” Thoreau is not challenging the existence of the telegraph, far from it. If Maine and Texas had something important to say, then there would be justification for its construction. Thoreau is simply concerned with remaining intentional in communication.

Newport defines the phrase solitude deprivation as a “state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds.” When this lack of solitude happens, we lose our sense of identity. I describe this phenomenon as “being afraid of my own thoughts,” however, we need time to be alone with our own thoughts.

“Ethan,” I hear you already saying, “I’m so busy with athletics or academics or extracurriculars or all three at once. How do I find time to do this?” You have more time than you think.

I often find myself (and see other people) with headphones on as soon as I walk out the door of my residence hall, keeping music or video content on for my entire walk to classes or to the Union. For those looking for an easy way to find time with their thoughts, consider walking to class alone. No headphones. Nothing playing. Just you, nature and your thoughts. You would be surprised what it does to you.

2. Stop Liking Things
Weird heading, I know. You might think I told you to not have hobbies, but that is not what I mean. Clicking ‘Like’ on something seems to be a standard way to say, “I like this! This is cool.” When Facebook introduced the ‘Like’ button in 2009, that is what it was supposed to be for. According to Newport, the ‘Like’ button was “introduced as a simpler way to indicate your general approval of a post, which would both save time and allow the comments to be reserved for more interesting notes.”

The quantification of social standing incentivizes people to constantly check their accounts, investigating to see if anyone else has ‘Liked’ their posts or story. But in terms of information conveyed, the ‘Like’ button conveys exactly one bit of information, the least amount of information possible to convey, according to information theory. “To say it’s like driving a Ferrari under the speed limit is an understatement,” writes Newport, “the better simile is towing a Ferrari behind a mule.” By conditioning our brains to accept ‘Likes’ instead of proper communication, we are selling our amazing communication capabilities short. We have limited the amount of fuel our communication can run on; we are literally receiving information one bit at a time.

3. Schedule Everything
Our lives are all defined by schedules. Every person at this College, whether student, staff or faculty, has a schedule to follow. For students, that could be a class schedule; for athletes, it could be a practice schedule. One easy way to limit your screen time is to schedule it.

Schedule time to check your social media, watch television or employ whatever form of screen enjoyment you like best. After that, put the screen away. Newport continues: “Without access to your standard screens, the best remaining option to fill this time will be quality activities.” This is a good blend of abstinence and enjoyment; while you do not have to give your media up completely, you are able to limit it in this way.

4. Detox
This solution is not for the faint of heart. If you attempt to detox, you will have to demonstrate significant self-restraint. When I first read Newport’s book as a senior in high school, I attempted this solution and failed to maintain the thirty days required of me.

Newport’s tough suggestion is to give it all up.

Take thirty days and eliminate all non-optional screens from your life. Newport considers a technology non-optional if “its temporary removal would harm or significantly disrupt the daily operation of your professional or personal life.”

Take Instagram, for example. In considering if Instagram is essential, one must ask themselves if temporary removal of Instagram would significantly disrupt their lives. In most cases, the answer is no (and no, finding out about events is not considered essential). However, if someone runs a business from Instagram (where, for example, they are posting handmade goodies to sell), then Instagram is an essential technology for them.

After the thirty-day detox, begin to introduce non-optional technologies back into your life. Doing so enables you to think critically about whether technology needs to be there or not.

If you are considering this, I seriously suggest reading the entirety of Newport’s book. He provides many more examples and much more research than I can include in this article.

Conclusions
At the beginning of this article, I noted that technology’s relationship with humanity was backward—that humanity served technology, and not the other way around. However, I sincerely believe we can undo this relationship by making our relationships both with technology and other humans intentional. By using our time wisely and using technology to our benefit, not to our detriment, we can save humanity from this servitude. The world is increasingly moving online; we must learn how to adapt.

Apple released the iOS 14 software Sept. 16. iOS 14 marks a new shift in Apple’s interface and has been anticipated by users since its announcement in June. The software update includes improvements to iPhone features and added security protections.

When you update your iPhone, most users will immediately notice that their home screen looks very different. iOS 14 introduces users to widgets which can be small, medium or large, along with display information from different apps such as weather and news. There are also smart stacks, which rotate different widgets to give additional customization.  

Many users have complained that it is difficult to resize and edit widgets on their home screen. Several users have gotten creative with the new update by customizing widgets and app icons with third-party apps. Users also now have access to an app library which creates categories for apps on the last page of their home screen. However, there is no way to edit the categories.

Apple Messenger has also been updated to include new features that give users more options to communicate. You can now pin conversations with contacts so that you can see their actions more clearly such as when they are typing or send a message. Within group chats you can now respond to a specific message so your response doesn’t get lost in the group. This is a convenient feature in big group chats and makes communication easier. iOS 14 also now includes an emoji search bar so you can find the perfect emoji without having to scroll through all the options. 

iOS 14 includes a new notification bar for phone and FaceTime calls. Instead of an incoming call taking up the entire screen of your phone, it now only appears as a banner at the top of the phone so you can continue to use your phone while ignoring calls. Many users have expressed gratitude for this feature and it’s a favorite from iOS 14. Siri also now only takes up a small portion of the screen when activated, compared to previously taking up the entire screen. There is also a new picture-in-picture mode so users can multitask while simultaneously watching videos or taking FaceTime calls.

Apple Maps has new features in iOS 14, such as including cycling instructions in big cities – a convenience for bikers and commuters. Maps also now includes routes for electric cars, showing charging stations. Users can now be alerted for speed and red-light cameras, which is a helpful feature to many drivers.

iPhone users will find the new privacy updates comforting as it allows more autonomy than previous updates. Users now can see a green dot when their camera is activated and a yellow dot when their microphone is activated. There are new app permissions, such as the new approximate location feature in which an app will ask for access to an approximate location rather than a specific pinpoint. This allows users more control when allowing apps to access their location. iOS 14 also now allows you to grant an app access to only specific photos or albums rather than your entire photo album. 

The new iOS 14 update offers Apple users new and exciting features that improve user experience by providing more opportunities for personalization and ease of access. The new notification banners, Message features and multitasking allow for a more seamless and efficient experience. Additional privacy protections give Apple users peace of mind that their data is protected. Overall, the iOS 14 upgrades user experience and provides a breath of change. 

In today’s modern era of dating, using online applications tend to be par for the course. Many people have used services such as Tinder or Bumble. There are also very niche apps like Christian Mingle and Farmers Only. In short, there are dating apps for all types of people. Even though many people have used dating apps, are they really any good? Do people actually like them?

I conducted a small survey of William Jewell College students about dating apps. A little more than half of the people I surveyed have used dating apps. Of those people, they listed various reasons for using the apps, including to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, for hookups, to meet new people and to try new things. A very small percentage of these students reported any long-term success with these apps. Though this didn’t fill me with any sort of confidence, I decided that I would give these apps a shot and use them myself. I only downloaded Tinder and Bumble because these were the most popular apps that were indicated in my survey. I set a goal that I would last one week, but I lasted three days. I didn’t even make it to Valentine’s Day.

I used basically the same profile for each app. For the images, I included a few pictures of just me and some with my friends. I set my gender preference to “everyone” for the largest sample size. I also limited by radius to about 15 miles because if I were to actually meet up with someone, I wouldn’t want it to be any farther than that..

Starting with Tinder, I have to applaud them for their inclusivity. They offer multiple sexualities to put on your profile, including gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, pansexual, questioning and queer. I found that to be encouraging. Once I got to the actual swiping, I was a little disappointed. If you put down that you were interested in everyone, the odds of finding someone the same gender as you were pretty small. Many of the people I questioned about this who also marked “everyone” in their profile reported a similar experience. This could be a regional thing, but it could also just be that not many LGBTQ+ individuals are using dating apps, though this is just speculation.

Most of the Tinder bios I came across were really vague and generic. Some of the most popular photo trends I found among men were shirtless mirror selfies, holding a fish, posing with another girl at prom or homecoming and sports uniforms. I didn’t get a chance to view many female profiles, but many of the ones I did get to see were selfies in cars, sorority pictures and professional grade pictures that were probably senior pictures. I’ll admit that I myself did include two of those trends in my own picture section. 

The written bio section also offered no guidance, so the user is left to their own devices. I appreciated that because the creativity knew no end. Some people included their zodiac signs, a cheesy pickup line, an explanation of their ideal first date or nothing at all. It made opening lines a bit difficult because there wasn’t very much to go off of. All things considered, I’m not a huge fan of Tinder.

Moving on to Bumble, the main feature that differentiates it from every other dating app is that women are required to message the man first if they want to initiate the conversation. This causes a problem in same-sex matches, because that means the feature for them is either ambiguous or completely meaningless. Bumble altered the feature for same-sex couples so that either person can message each other first. 

Bumble’s profiles are a lot more fleshed out. There are multiple settings that allow your profile to indicate the following things: how often someone smokes or drinks, zodiac sign, religion, political affiliation, height, weight and the list goes on. Bumble also offered the option to pick three questions out of a list and answer them on your profile. 

While these options offer more than Tinder does, they can also be polarizing. I found myself avoiding certain people based on how they indicated their political affiliation or religion. It made it harder to find matches, but that can also be seen as a good thing. If someone has a different religion than someone else and knows it wouldn’t work out between them, it saves them both time instead of figuring it out far later. So this can be seen as a double-edged sword.

My take on dating apps? While I prefered Bumble over Tinder, I got a handful of matches on both and still ended up deleting them both after three days because it got boring. I found it difficult to try to get to know someone I’d only ever seen pictures of, and I didn’t feel comfortable meeting someone I didn’t know on my own. I don’t think dating apps are for me.

However, this is a personal preference. I’ve had people express that they’ve had some success with dating apps, and I’m happy they’re happy. But that doesn’t mean that I have to like dating apps just because someone else does, and someone else doesn’t have to dislike apps just because I do. Ultimately, it really boils down how you think you would do with a dating app.

These past couple of weeks have been big for Apple as they just released their new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iOS 13 upgrades. The iPhone 11 was released Sept. 20 and everyone has been raging about it since. The biggest feature that caught my eye was, of course, the double or triple camera options. It has a super-wide mode that can capture up to four times as much of the scene. On top of this, the camera also has intense lighting, and the portrait mode has a quicker focus time and more light settings. This phone has really been marketed for this generation. 

The camera does seem to be the biggest change from the 10 to 11, but there are some small features that I think are super essential and am happy are being fixed. I have an iPhone X right now, and while the phone is great and I’m lucky to have such a high quality gadget, it does have its faults. The Face ID never seems to register unless I stare into my phone’s soul for five seconds. Apple reports that iPhone 11 and 11 pro is up to 30 percent faster. 

My second complaint was the battery life, which somehow only lasts me until around 6 p.m. even when I charge it overnight. They have also fixed battery life issues, reporting that the iPhone 11 has up to four more hours of battery life. There’s a lot of other features like water resistance and point airdrop

For people who don’t want to spend money and upgrade to a whole new phone, Apple launched iOS 13 for iPhone 6 and up Sept. 10. If you keep hitting update later, stop. This update is worth the hour wait time. In my opinion, the best part in would be the dark mode option. I’m always blinded by the light of my screen at any time of the day, but this new option lets users change their home screen and certain participating apps to dark mode. Users can also set an automatic timer for their phone to change to dark mode each night. So if you want your eyes not to be blinded when looking at the time at night, dark mode is the way to go. 

Another useful update is Apple Maps. Apple Maps has been rearranged and updated to remember more locations, suggest locations and view locations in a 3D landscape. If users search for a well-known location and click the binocular button they can view their searched location in a 360-degree earth view, which can be super helpful if you are a visual tracker much like I am. Users are also able to add more saved locations instead of just their home and work location. 

Apple is really trying to listen and improve their products for the masses. They always seem to be coming out with an update or new phone or new version of the old, but I view this in a positive light. Yes, it’s 100 percent capitalism at its finest, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also the mentality that nothing will be perfect. You always want it to be better and with our technology constantly developing, I think our phones need to as well, and Apple recognizes this. 

On Apple’s website, they say the new iPhone 11 has a “chip so advanced, even we’re trying to catch up.” which just goes to show that they are striving for better products each time for their customers. The iPhone 11 will definitely be followed by an iPhone 12 and 13 as well as more iOS updates, but at least Apple is trying – which I think is all I can personally ask from a company.