Anyone who has hit the roof when their cellphone battery died at the wrong time or worse lost signal while on the road knows about being a victim of technology. We completely forget that we once coped very well without the cellphone and could surely survive a couple of hours now.
Kathleen Hall's statement in the article rings ominously true though one could argue the sound of a baby's cooing and gurgling changes an adult's expression too - so would that also be considered Pavlovian ? Maybe not simply because it is free form, natural and does not make any demands of us unlike a buzzing Blackberry at work which could mean reminders, deadlines and worse.
"People have almost become victimized by the technology," she says. "They're addicted to it. I have patients that when their cell phones and Blackberries buzz, their expressions change. They're responding to the stimulus of the bell, like Pavlov's dog. What they don't realize is that it takes away your personal power."
Kathleen Hall's statement in the article rings ominously true though one could argue the sound of a baby's cooing and gurgling changes an adult's expression too - so would that also be considered Pavlovian ? Maybe not simply because it is free form, natural and does not make any demands of us unlike a buzzing Blackberry at work which could mean reminders, deadlines and worse.
"People have almost become victimized by the technology," she says. "They're addicted to it. I have patients that when their cell phones and Blackberries buzz, their expressions change. They're responding to the stimulus of the bell, like Pavlov's dog. What they don't realize is that it takes away your personal power."
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