The entire Greensboro Coliseum takes a collective breath in anticipation. Mustapha Farrakhan has just launched a three-ball, hoping to pull Virginia within two points of the favored Duke squad. An upset is brewing. Momentum is shifting.
The ball spins perfectly, following a graceful arc toward the rim. A hush falls over the stadium crowd.
"DDDRRRRROOOOOOIIIIIDDDD!"
I look down, at my ringing phone, the sweet new conduit to my entire life ... I mean digital life. Why wouldn't I jump to attention at the whistle of my pocket-sized head coach?\nMy brother just sent me a text message for the sole purpose of hearing the ridiculous notification noise. We chuckle and rib each other.
The crowd goes wild. What happened? Where's the replay on the jumbotron? What?! No replay? I check my new app for an update of the box score. I send an e-mail.
Another swish. Another highlight. Another forgone emotive experience. What's worse than my own poor decision-making? From my vantage point in the upper deck, I can see that the stands are lit up like a Christmas tree with handheld screens. I feel like Luke Wilson is walking by and telling me how great AT&T is before my view pans out to reveal that the stands are actually in the shape of the continental U.S.
Technology plays a pick-up game in our lives everyday, and we play along as teammates, only occasionally cognizant of our awkward team chemistry. At times, technology is the selfish kid on the playground, endlessly calling for both attention and the ball, all so it can fire that ill-advised shot. On other occasions, our teammate is a "pass-first" point guard, always looking to give us an open lay-up and make the smartest play for the team.
A review of mobile devices' impact on quality of life in the Journal of the American Medical Association referred to an "empowerment-enslavement paradox," in which executives - armed as they are with mobile devices - were four times more likely to work on vacation than office employees. Meanwhile, employees in service positions - such as financial advisors and lawyers - increasingly feel they must respond around the clock to remain competitive. The wall between work and home crumbles like a little point guard getting blind-sided by the opposing center setting a screen.
But countless studies have shown that mobile devices also have increased job productivity and happiness. Nurses in Sarasota, Fla. were reported to have increased both patient care quality and job satisfaction by incorporating mobile devices into their points of care. Medical students and physicians rely on these devices as their "peripheral brain," to bring up those side issues of which they may not be thinking. Indeed, technology can guide us through tough situations, much like a coach during the final minute of a March Madness showdown.
How we choose to integrate technology into our daily lives is a personal decision. Technology can distract but also can instruct. It can isolate but also connect. It can harm but also cure. My hope is that the decision to implement new science and technology remains a conscious one, in which both the pitfalls and promises of each new discovery and innovation are weighed, so that we might ...\n"DDDRRRRROOOOOOIIIIIDDDD!"
Gotta go. I'm going all in on this hand of portable online poker.
Tom is a University Medical and doctoral student.
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