Who's really addicting you to Technology?
A."Nearly everyone i know is addicted in some measure to the internet, "wrote tony Schwartz in The New York Times. it's a common complaint these days. A steady stream of similar headlines accuse the net and its offspring apps, social media sites and online games of addicting us to distraction.
B. There's little doubt that nearly everyone who comes in contact with the net has difficulty concentration than it takes to post a status update. as one person ironically put it in the comments section of Schwartz's online article, "As I was reading this very excellent article.I stopped at least half a dozen times to cheek my email.
C.There's something different about this technology: it is both invasive and persuasive. but who's at fault for its overuse? To find solutions, it's important to understand what we’re dealing with.There are four parties conspiring to keep you connected the tech, your boss, your friends and you.
D.The technologies themselves and their makers, are the easiest suspects to blame for our diminishing attention spans. Nicholas Carr,author of The Shallows： what the internet is doing Our brains, wrote, The net is designed to be an interruption system, a machine geared to dividing attention.
E.Online services like Facebook, twitter and the like, are called out of manipulation--making, products so good that people can't stop using them. after studying these products for several years, I wrote a book about how they do it. I learned it all starts with the business model. since these services rely on advertising revenue, The more frequently you use money they make.It’s no winder these companies employ teams of people focused on engineering their services to be as engaging as possible. these products aren't habit-forming by chance; it's by design. they have an incentive to keep us hooked.
F.However, as good as these services are, there are simple steps we can take to keep them at bay.For example, we can change how often we receive the distracting notifications that trigger our urge to check.According to Adam Marchick, CEO of mobile marketing company kahuna, less than 15 percent of smartphone users ever bother to adjust their notification setlings--meaning the remaining 85 percent of us default to the app makers' every preset trigger.Google and Apple have made it far too difficult to adjust these settings so it's up to us to take steps ensure we set these triggers to suit our own needs, not the needs of the app makers.
G.While companies like Facebook harvest attention to generate revenue from advertisers, other technologies have no such agenda. take email, for example. this system couldn't care less how often you use it. Yet to many, email is the most habit-forming medium of all.We check email at all hours of the day--we're obsessed, but why? Because that's what the boss wants.For almost all white-collar jobs, email is the primary tool of corporate communication. A slow response to a message could hurt not only your reputation but also your livelihood.
H.Your friends are also responsible.Think about this familiar scene.People gathered around a table, enjoying food and each others company. there's laughter and a bit of kidding. Then, during an interval in the conversation, someone takes out their phone to check who knows what.Barely anyone notices and no one says a thing.
I.Now imagine the same dinner,but instead of checking their phone, the person belches(打嗝)-loudly.Everyone notices. unless the meal takes place in a beer house, this is considered bad manners. The impolite act violates the basic rules of etiquette. one has to wonder why don’t we apply the same social norms to checking phones during meals, meetings and conversations as we do to other antisocial behaviors somehow, we accept it and say nothing when someone offends.
J.The reality is taking one's phone out at the wrong time is worse than belching because, unlike other minor offense, checking tech is contagious. once one person looks at their phone,other people feel compelled to do the same, starting a chain reaction. the more people are on their phones, the fewer people are talking until finally you are the only one left not reading email or checking twitter. from a societal perspective, phone checking is less like belching in public and more like another bad habit. our phones are like cigarettes-something to do when were bored or when our fingers need something to toy with seeing others enjoy a smoke,or sneak a quick glance, is too tempting to resist and soon everyone is doing it.
K.The technology, your boss, and your friends, all influence how often you find yourself using (or overusing )these gadgets. but there's still someone who deserves scrutiny--the person holding the phone.
L. I have a confession. even though i study habit-forming technology for a living, disconnecting is not easy for me.I'm online far more than I'd like like Schwartz and so many others, I often find myself distracted and off tack.I wanted to know why so i began self-monitoring to try to understand my behavior. that's when i discovered an uncomfortable truth. i use technology as an escape. when I'm doing something I'd rather not do, or when I'm someplace I'd rather not attention was often a good thing, like when passing time on public transportation, but frequently my tech use was not so benign. when i faced difficult work, like thinking through an article idea or editing the same draft for the hundredth time, for example, a more sinister screen would draw me in. i could easily escape discomfort, temporarily, by answering email or browsing the web under the pretense of so-called"research. "though I desperately wanted to lay blame elsewhere, i finally had to admit that my bad habits had less to do with new-age.technology and more to do with old-fashioned procrastination(拖延).
M. It's easy to blame technology for being so distracting, but distraction is nothing new. Aristotle and Socrates debated nature of “akrasia”--our tendency to do things against our interests. If we're honest with ourselves, tech is just another way to occupy our time and minds,if we weren’t on our devices. We’d likely do similarly unproductive.
N.Personal technology is indeed more engaging than ever, and there's no doubt companies are engineering their products and services to be more compelling and attractive but would want it any other way the intended result of making something better is that people use it more. that's not necessarily a problem, that's progress.
O.These improvements don't mean we shouldn't attempt to control our use of technology. In order to make sure it doesn't control us, we should come to terms with the fact that it's more than the technology itself that’s responsible for our habits. our workplace culture, social norms and individual behaviors all play a part to put technology in its place, we must be conscious not only of how technology is changing, but also of how it is changing us.
36.Online services are so designed that the more they are used, the more profit they generate.
37. The author admits using technology as an escape from the task at hand.
38. Checking phones at dinners is now accepted as normal but not belching.
39. To make proper use of technology, we should not only increase our awareness of how it is changing but also how it is impacting us.
40. Most of us find it hard to focus on our immediate tasks because of internet distractions.
41. when one person starts checking their phone, the others will follow suit.
42.The great majority of smartphone users don' t take the trouble to adjust their settings to suit their own purposes.
43.The internet is regarded by some as designed to distract our attention.
44. The author attributes his tech addiction chiefly to his habit of putting off doing what he should do right away.
45.White-collar workers check email round the clock because it is required by their employers.
答案解析：
36. 由题干中的关键词“Online services”“the more they are used, the more profit they generate”定位到E段。E段提到“since these services rely on advertising revenue, The more frequently you use money they make.”，即在线服务依赖广告收入，使用越频繁，赚的钱越多，也就是使用越多利润越多，所以选E。
37. 由题干中的关键词“using technology as an escape from the task at hand”定位到L段。L段提到“i use technology as an escape. when I'm doing something I'd rather not do...a more sinister screen would draw me in. i could easily escape discomfort...by answering email or browsing the web”，作者承认用技术逃避手头的任务，所以选L。
38. 由题干定位到I段。I段提到打嗝在非酒吧场合被认为是不礼貌的行为，而在吃饭时看手机被接受为正常现象，所以选I。
39. 由题干中的关键词“make proper use of technology”“increase our awareness of how it is changing”“how it is impacting us”定位到O段。O段提到“In order to make sure it doesn't control us, we should come to terms with the fact that it's more than the technology itself that’s responsible for our habits...we must be conscious not only of how technology is changing, but also of how it is changing us.”，即要正确使用技术，不仅要意识到技术如何变化，还要意识到它如何影响我们，所以选O。
40. 由题干中的关键词“hard to focus on our immediate tasks”“internet distractions”定位到B段。B段提到“There's little doubt that nearly everyone who comes in contact with the net has difficulty concentration than it takes to post a status update.”，即由于网络干扰，大多数人很难专注于手头的任务，所以选B。
41. 由题干中的关键词“one person starts checking their phone”“the others will follow suit”定位到J段。J段提到“once one person looks at their phone, other people feel compelled to do the same, starting a chain reaction.”，即一个人看手机，其他人也会跟着看，所以选J。
42. 由题干中的关键词“The great majority of smartphone users”“don't take the trouble to adjust their settings”定位到F段。F段提到“According to Adam Marchick, CEO of mobile marketing company kahuna, less than 15 percent of smartphone users ever bother to adjust their notification setlings--meaning the remaining 85 percent of us default to the app makers' every preset trigger.”，即大多数智能手机用户不调整设置，所以选F。
43. 由题干中的关键词“The internet”“designed to distract our attention”定位到D段。D段提到“Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows： what the internet is doing Our brains, wrote, The net is designed to be an interruption system, a machine geared to dividing attention.”，即网络被设计成分散我们注意力的系统，所以选D。
44. 由题干中的关键词“The author”“his tech addiction”“habit of putting off doing what he should do right away”定位到L段。L段提到“though I desperately wanted to lay blame elsewhere, i finally had to admit that my bad habits had less to do with new - age technology and more to do with old - fashioned procrastination(拖延).”，即作者将自己的技术成瘾归因于拖延习惯，所以选L。
45. 由题干中的关键词“White - collar workers”“check email round the clock”“required by their employers”定位到G段。G段提到“For almost all white - collar jobs, email is the primary tool of corporate communication. A slow response to a message could hurt not only your reputation but also your livelihood.”，即白领全天查看邮件是因为雇主的要求，所以选G。
