似曾相识的戒网瘾方案
前不久的一个晚上，在我匆忙完成工作的时候，我错误地扫了一眼智能手机，结果惊恐地发现自己被拉到了四个新的WhatsApp群里面。
The messaging was frantic. It felt like being dropped into a children’s party with a group of three-year-olds all clamouring for my attention.
消息多得让人发狂。我感觉就像是被扔进一个儿童聚会中，一群三岁的孩子鼓噪着，希望引起我的注意。
To say this was disappointing is an understatement. I had added WhatsApp to my phone in the hope that it would become a discrete channel, diverting messages away from my overloaded email in-tray. Instead, like Mickey Mouse in the Disney cartoon Fantasia, commanding a broom to do his work, my shortcut did the reverse — instigating a deluge, in my case, of information.
说这有些令人失望都是轻的。我将WhatsApp装到手机中，是希望它能成为一个独立的渠道，将信息从过载的电子邮件收件箱分流出去。结果，就像迪士尼(Disney)动画片《幻想曲》(Fantasia)中的“米老鼠”(Mickey Mouse)指挥一把扫帚来干活一样，我的捷径也事与愿违——为我引发了一场信息洪水。
So it seemed like a blessing when I was handed a copy of How to Break up with your Phone, a book by Catherine Price. Do you find yourself spending more time on your phone than you realise, the author asks? Yes. Do you wish you could be a little less involved with your phone? Yes, yes, yes. Price recounts the dopamine-fuelled excitement that comes from receiving a “like” on Instagram, or even just the anticipation of a new message in our email inbox.
因此，当有人递给我一本凯瑟琳•普赖斯(Catherine Price)所著的《如何与你的手机分手》(How to Break up with your Phone)的时候，真是正中下怀。作者问道，你觉得自己在手机上花费的时间比你想象得多吗?是的。你是否希望花在手机上的时间少一些?太对了。普赖斯描述了我们在Instagram上收到“赞”、甚至只是期待邮箱里会收到的一条新消息时，多巴胺带来的兴奋。
On the one hand people complain about being deluged, but on the other they can’t allow themselves to be bored. Price cites research by the University of Virginia and Harvard University that, in 2014, found participants in an experiment would rather give themselves a small electric shock than be alone with their own thoughts for 15 minutes.
人们一方面抱怨被信息洪水淹没，另一方面又不允许自己感到无聊。普赖斯引用了弗吉尼亚大学(University of Virginia)和哈佛大学(Harvard University)在2014年的研究——该研究发现，实验对象宁愿让自己受到轻微电击，也不愿花15分钟独处思考。
Yet the cumulative effect of riding the app merry-go-round is an inability to focus, poor memory and mental fatigue. Her solution? A four-week regime to change our dependency on our smartphones. Ditching them entirely would not be in our best interests — what about all the useful stuff? The camera, the books and encyclopedias on tap.
然而，沉溺于各类应用的结果是无法集中精力、记忆力差和精神倦怠。普赖斯的解决办法是什么?她给出了一套为期四周、目标是改变我们对智能手机依赖的方案。完全抛弃智能手机不符合我们的最佳利益——否则那些有用的东西怎么办?那些一点即用的相机、图书和百科全书。
Price’s book is not the only product on the market to help people deal with their supposed “tech addiction”. There are now apps that block other apps, such as BreakFree, Flipd, or AppDetox. Dumbphones — those stripped back mobiles that only handle calls and messages — are experiencing a resurgence on the back of fears over our impending digital degeneracy. Then there are detox weekenders and festivals that claim to help you unplug and recharge.
普赖斯的书并非市场上唯一帮助人们应对所谓的“技术上瘾”的产品。现在已有可以阻止其他应用的应用，例如BreakFree、Flipd或者AppDetox。由于担心自己即将堕入对应用的沉迷，那些功能简单、只能接打电话和收发短信的非智能手机正在复苏。此外，还有声称帮助你拔掉电源和养精蓄锐的戒网瘾周末度假包和节日。
But hold on, haven’t we seen this before? The tech detox programmes mirror previous dieting regimes. Want to lose excess pounds? Fast two days a week, as with the 5:2 diet. Or stay off carbs and feast on meat, as recommended by Dr Atkins.
但是等一等，这一切有没有觉得眼熟?这些戒网瘾疗法借鉴了以前的节食疗法。想要减掉多余的磅数?一周禁食两天，这就是5：2禁食法。或者按照艾特金斯医生(Dr Atkins)的建议，不要吃碳水化合物，大量食肉。
The language used in programmes to curb our digital excesses is similar to that employed by diet gurus. We “graze” or “snack” on unsatisfying apps, ruining our appetites for nourishing literature.
那些旨在遏制我们过度使用手机的疗法所使用的语言，与节食大师所使用的语言十分相似。我们把不那么令人满意的应用当做“零食”，破坏了我们对富含营养的文学的胃口。
I worry about my inability to focus. After bingeing on Instagram or Twitter, I have chastised myself for the time I have wasted.
我担心自己无法集中注意力。在Instagram或Twitter上流连忘返之后，我对自己浪费的时间感到自责。
Yet there is a new feeling that nags: that smartphones are the latest target for the self-improvement movement (which is ironic, as so many apps exist that help you count calories and measure your steps).
然而，还有一种萦绕不去的新感觉是：智能手机成了健身运动的最新目标(这有些讽刺，因为有很多应用可以帮助你计算卡路里和统计步数)。
Just as the diet industry has repeatedly reinvented itself, so this next wave of self-help, dealing with digital addiction, will probably do the same, making consumers feel guilty about their lack of self-restraint (a charge which Price denied when I put it to her in the latest FT Business Book podcast).
就像节食业一再重塑自己一样，下一波针对网瘾的自救浪潮很可能同样如此，让消费者自己对缺乏自律感到内疚(当我在最新的英国《金融时报》商业图书播客节目中提出这个观点的时候，普赖斯予以了否认)。
Surely some of the blame lies with Big Tech, just as it does with food companies?
当然，一些责任是否应归咎于大型科技公司，就像节食业归咎于食品公司一样?
Last year, Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, said: “It’s a social-validation feedback loop . . . exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
去年，Facebook的创始总裁肖恩•帕克(Sean Parker)表示：“这是一个社交认可反馈循环……正是像我这样的黑客会想出的那种东西，因为你正在利用人类心理上的一个弱点。”
There are glimmers of hope. At a recent conference, The Truth about Tech: How Kids get Hooked, Tristan Harris, a former in-house ethicist at Google, implored tech companies to “change course”, according to Quartz magazine. “We have to redesign all of it with a more compassionate view of human nature,” he says.
还有一线希望。根据《Quartz》杂志的报道，在最近一次以“关于科技的真相：孩子们是如何上瘾的”为主题的会议上，谷歌前内部伦理学家特里斯坦•哈里斯(Tristan Harris)恳请科技公司“改变航向”。他说：“我们必须用更有同情心的人性观来重新设计一切。”
Until that day comes, I will probably continue to swing between guilt over tech blowouts and delight with my new digital treats.
在这一天来临之前，我可能会继续在因沉溺科技产品而产生的负罪感，与我的新数字产品带来的愉悦感之间摇摆。
