A Distinctive Taste

emergentfutures:

You Love Your iPhone. Literally

Paul Higgins: Interesting article on the effects of technology including:

Earlier this year, I carried out an fMRI experiment to find out whether iPhones were really, truly addictive, no less so than alcohol, cocaine, shopping or video games. In conjunction with the San Diego-based firm MindSign Neuromarketing, I enlisted eight men and eight women between the ages of 18 and 25. Our 16 subjects were exposed separately to audio and to video of a ringing and vibrating iPhone.

In each instance, the results showed activation in both the audio and visual cortices of the subjects’ brains. In other words, when they were exposed to the video, our subjects’ brains didn’t just see the vibrating iPhone, they “heard” it, too; and when they were exposed to the audio, they also “saw” it. This powerful cross-sensory phenomenon is known as synesthesia.

But most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain, which is associated with feelings of love and compassion. The subjects’ brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member

Full Story: New York Times

So I cracked my iphone screen today.  Glass shards go into my thumb when I unlock the screen.  I headed up to Baltimore with the fam to visit my sister for lunch. The entire time going there and and coming back I had this feeling of anxiety that my phone was broken.  I also caught myself mentioning my phone being broke twice.  Not to my surprise, my sister who doesn’t have an iPhone could give less than a fuck about my screen being cracked.  I guess I am writing this to make fun of the fact that I felt like this today, and I should probably be ashamed of myself for feeling this way about an inanimate object.