Unconsciously changed.
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Editor’s note: Is technology a tool that humans use actively, or is it an environment that we should adapt to? More and more phenomena show that technology is actively changing us, and we are passively adapting to technology. For example, the power of the mobile phone will seriously affect our emotions. The visual interference caused by the push notification will also affect the memory. The targeted advertisements in the network will unconsciously reshape our perception of ourselves. This article is translated from Medium, author Markham Heid, originally titled “The Unsettling Ways Tech Is Changing Your Personal Reality”, I hope to inspire you.
In the winter and spring of 2017, researchers at Cass Business School in London interviewed local office workers to investigate their use of mobile devices. The interview questions are mainly concentrated on two aspects: the battery life of the device, and whether a person’s perception of the phone’s power will affect their feelings and behavior.
The researchers found that most of the people interviewed were anxious about the battery life of the phone and the distance from the power source. This “range anxiety” affects their journey and mood. When people choose the next destination (fitness hall, coffee shop or supermarket), they will consider whether they can easily use the charging socket. A 23-year-old interviewer told researchers that when the phone’s power dropped to 50%, she felt anxious; after falling to 30%, she was “not happy at all.” Another 35-year-old respondent compared the phone’s lack of electricity to the water in the bathtub during a cold day bubble bath. He said: “The feeling is like being frozen, naked and cold.”
Thomas Robinson, lead author of the study and a lecturer in marketing at Cass Business School, at a press conference “In the interview process, the respondents said that the full grid of electricity keeps them active, as if they can go anywhere to do anything. However, when the phone’s power drops below 50%, it can cause serious anxiety and anxiety.
From the fear of survival caused by low battery power, to the driving force of online advertising, there is growing evidence that interaction with technology has a special, and in some cases even harmful to, people’s thinking and feelings. Impact.
Some studies have revealed the effects of transient visual disturbances on memory. In a series of computer-based experiments at Ohio State University, researchers asked people to look at four different colored squares and then write down the colors of the highlighted squares. During the experiment, the researchers flashed white dots around another square to distract the observer. When they are asked to recall the color of the highlighted square and recognize it on the color wheel, those who are distracted are more likely to choose the wrong color. Although their guesses and correct answers are often very different, many distracted people express confidence in their choices.
“The most interesting thing about this research is that people don’t realize they are making these mistakes,” said co-author of the study, Julie Golo, associate professor of psychology at the Ohio State University Center for Cognition and Brain Sciences. Julie Golomb said. Her findings suggest that visual disturbances caused by new information alerts or news push notifications may distort his memory of events without a person’s awareness. She said: “Even if you think you are focusing on a task and doing it seriously, an interfering object that briefly draws your attention can fundamentally change your perception.”
“Those consumers who know they have received targeted advertising say they are more interested in the products in the ads and even change their perceptions to cater to the ads themselves.” p>
Another recent study in Ohio says that technology affects people more than just mood and memory; they may reshape your self-awareness. The researchers investigated how viewing of “behavior-oriented” online advertising can affect a person’s perception of themselves. Rebecca Reczek, a professor of marketing at the Ohio State University’s Fisher School of Business, explains: “Behavior-oriented use of your usual online behavioral information (such as what you bought, what you clicked on, And which websites have been visited to create your profile, using an algorithm based on your dataCalculate which ads are particularly attractive to you and then push them to you.
Ricek says that the web is full of behavioral targeted ads, and you can usually identify them by a small blue triangle with the words “Ad Choices” in the top right corner. (Not all sites have this ad selection icon because there is no legal requirement to do so.)
She and her colleagues in Consumer Research in 2016 A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that when people know that an advertisement is pushed to them based on behavioral orientation, the content of the advertisement affects their perception of themselves. “Those consumers who know they’ve received targeted advertising say they’re more interested in the products in the ads and even change their perceptions to cater to the ads’ judgments,” she explained. “For example, in our research, consumers who receive targeted advertising for green (environmentally friendly) products feel that they have strong green consumer values.”
Although the effectiveness of behavioral targeted advertising is good news for marketers, these findings also raise some disturbing assumptions. Suppose there is a young man in the United States who likes hunting or outdoor sports, and behavioral targeting technology will provide him with ads for offensive weapons or tactical equipment, then these advertisements will strengthen the perception of young people as a certain gun owner. “Our research shows that if people don’t think that the traits implied by advertising are negative, then they will feel that they have this trait to a large extent.”
If the results of Ohio State University research are reliable, that is, online advertising has the ability to reshape people’s personal image, then we should not regard the Internet as a tool to be used, but should regard it as It is a new environment that human beings should adapt to, whether it is good or bad.
Translator: Jane
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