hey yeah I’m gonna have to call you back
I have to give this presentation quick
so I’ll talk to you later well dude
chill up I’m watching the crown take it
easy so as you can tell we’ll be talking
about technology I’m Nick Barela I’m
Christopher Mary thanks for joining us
today for our TED talk dare to unplug
Chris and I were curious about the role
of Technology in our everyday lives so
we decided to undergo a social
experiment earlier this month we
completely unplugged for a week
that means no phones no TVs no laptops
or computers and no March Madness Final
Four now I know what you’re thinking
Nick and Chris that’s crazy why would
you do that well it shows just how far
we will go to provide you our valued
audience with relevant insights
specifically today we’ll be talking
about how technology impacts three key
areas of our lives our productivity our
relationships with those around us and
our creativity our capacity for creative
thought so Nick turning first to
productivity it’s no secret the American
workplace has seen astonishing
improvements in information technology
since the computing revolution of the
1970s can anyone in this room actually
recall a time when offices were teeming
with filing cabinets and handwritten
financial statements as opposed to digi
files an email Johanssen yeah ask these
people they will tell you we’ve been
killing it recently telecommuting has
created a truly mobile workforce big
data has allowed firms to market more
efficiently than ever and customer
relationship management programs have
automated client service like never
before
but despite these improvements is it
possible that the technological
revolution has in some ways limited our
productivity last year Forbes found that
26% of the American workforce wastes at
least two hours a day at work be that on
their phone on social media through
texting or non-work-related phone calls
that’s a quarter of the workday every
single day what Nielsen last year
further found that the average American
adult now spends 10 hours a day staring
at screens that’s a number that has been
on the rise every year for the last 10
to make at the very least I’d say these
statistics they’re startling they’re a
little concerning but they may actually
point to an altogether detrimental
in American society we’ve likely all
heard the adage that you need to work
smarter not harder we as Americans
working harder than ever working long
hours or burning ourselves out and
changing careers frequently as we grow
dissatisfied with our jobs but we’re
only working so so long and so hard
because we’re working dumber and more
distracted than ever
so our week without technology backed up
many of these findings not surprisingly
it was much easier to pay attention in
class
it’s amazing how tempting it can be to
pull out your phone during lecture
sometimes it almost seems involuntary a
few weeks ago I was sitting in class and
possibly pulled out my phone and before
I knew what was happening I was on ESPN
checking the Cubs spring training score
yes spring training the games didn’t
even count yet what is wrong with me
well without technology I felt like
Bilbo freed from the ring and was a lot
more active in my class discussions this
also translated over to our study habits
where Chris and I were more productive
without constant interruptions from our
buzzing phone instead of taking study
breaks to watch NBA dunk highlights
I took study breaks – that’s right I
didn’t take study breaks which was kind
of horrible to be honest but definitely
maximize my productivity say what you
want about small sample sizes but my one
midterm during no tech week is the only
time I’ve ever beaten the average on a
finance exam and then additionally so
like well Chris and I are second
semester seniors so we’re basically
mailing it in at this point we weren’t
willing to completely bomb our exams so
this is where we performed our one sheet
of no tech week and we did in fact use
calculators so while technology not
having technology clearly made us more
productive in some areas I must admit
that doing any longer than a week would
have been impossible the truth is that
using technology makes us exponentially
more productive if we use it correctly
one example is I’m doing research within
the economics department focused on
baseball valuation discrepancies as the
name suggests it’s very data-intensive
and I basically had to stop everything
for a week but can you even do a count
of metrics regressions by hand I don’t
think so if so that would be my worst
nightmare
so how then can we recapture some of
that productivity without the need to
overly depend on technology first you
know Nick and I both think it’s very
helpful to try to limit multitasking I
found that when I wasn’t distracted by
trying to balance a Twitter feed with a
spreadsheet I was way more productive
number two it’s particularly helpful to
limit social media intake to fixed
intervals throughout the day I found
that I was more focused on the real
world when I was in it and then when I
had the luxury of being able to to
cruise twitter or instant Abed and
finally what Nick and I call you do you
one of the greatest joys actually of the
week was being able to start the day by
reading a newspaper by exercising or
even meditating and we really thought
they gave us some added energy so we
started the day on the right foot so
transitioning towards relationships
technology offers some clear advantages
in 1993 anthropologist Robin Dunbar from
the University of Oxford argue that an
individual can maintain a maximum of a
hundred and fifty significant
relationships at a time now thanks to
the advent of new technologies like
Facebook LinkedIn and texting it is
possible to far surpass that number and
nurture relationships over time and
across vast distances
unfortunately the technological age also
leaves us vulnerable to the narcissism
insecurity and shallowness that often
accompany these platforms particularly
within the social media realm research
shows that social media use can even
negatively impact our mental health a
recent study from the Royal Society for
Public Health
linked social media used with rising
rates of depression and anxiety rates
that have risen by 70 percent and young
people in the past 25 years in terms of
romantic relationships technology has
been a game changer opening up new pools
of dating and marriage options in 1932
Penn sociologist James Bussard looked at
5,000 consecutive marriage licenses on
file for the city of Philadelphia the
results were shocking more than
one-third of couples lived within five
blocks of one another before getting
married
technology has completely removed this
need for close geographic proximity in
his book modern romance
Aziz Ansari credits technology with
prompting the shift from the companion
in marriage to the soulmate marriage and
yes I know that quoting as these may not
be a huge boost for my credibility but
the statistics back him up
University of Chicago psychologist John
Cacioppo performed a study from 2006 to
2012 in which he found that more than
one-third of married couples met through
an online dating site so while using
these sites still comes with a form of
social stigma the fact that they are
driving more soulmate marriages is
encouraging
unfortunately this encouragement should
be tempered because technology appears
to be hurting our chances to find that
special someone in other instances we
are quicker to write off potential
suitors because we can afford to be more
selective a mentality that has caused
the average marriage age to continue to
rise as I’m sorry puts it we carry a
24/7 singles bar in our pockets making
committing to any one person a big deal
the rise of swipe apps like tinder which
is 50 million active users has turned
dating into a sort of game like I hate
to break it to any of the tinder users
in the audience but the odds that you’ll
find your soulmate
based off flipping through a few
pictures while brushing your teeth seems
kind of unlikely so I’ll be honest going
into our week with that tech I was
basically anticipating that I live under
a rock and turns my relationships but I
actually was pleasantly surprised by how
some of those relationships developed
and grew over the time particularly with
the people that I consider myself
closest to here at Notre Dame and
particularly with Nick since neither of
us had the luxury of being able to binge
watch Netflix for hours or cruise social
media with that end we ended up deep
talking at time we played a lot of
basketball and we became pool sharks
well maybe not pool sharks okay not pool
sharks but we played like a disturbing
amount of billiards III ended up
actually writing a couple letters to my
parents and to friends from high school
reconnecting in that way I ended up I
ended up actually smoking a pipe with a
couple of my friends who are pretty into
that like a like a diction level into
that
I ended up working out with a couple of
friends from off-campus they don’t get
to see as much anymore if you don’t know
me this is a massive statement I would
say like to find me in the key weight
room is like on par with a verified
Bigfoot’s outing on South quad it just
it does not happen it doesn’t and
perhaps most disappointingly Nick even
though we’re tech free for only a week I
was as unsuccessful in finding true love
without tech as I have been with it and
and I do want to take this opportunity
because this is a good-sized crowd and
you guys have been terrific all day but
if any of you work for tinder or bumble
or anything like that there has got to
be something wrong with your algorithm
because I get just so few matches and it
has to be something to do with your apps
and not just everything about me but in
all seriousness are weak without tech
really helped Nick and I focus on living
in the proverbial moments on building
true connections with people that are
made over real conversations and and
through that I think we both discover
that you can really focus on another
individual more when you’re not
necessarily distracted by a buzzing
phone so here are a few quick
recommendations based on our experiences
during no tech week
first we recommend using your phone to
make plans and not build the
relationship Chris it’s okay to ask that
special lady on a date without
exchanging weeks upon weeks of
meaningless text messages and Chris you
can be someone’s best friend in real
life without being their best friend on
snapchat
shocker so our other recommendation is
while you’re in social settings make a
conscious effort to keep your phone in
your pocket and engage with the people
around you perhaps consider not wearing
headphones when walking to class or work
live in the present moment and you’ll be
surprised at how much more meaningful
your interactions become so then turning
finally to creativity our capacity for
creative thought we all know that a
myriad of new apps and websites has made
it easier than ever to share your
creation with the world around us for
the first time ever Spotify and
SoundCloud are competing with
traditional record labels for the rights
to share artists music and actually we
can see that some
these results aren’t all positive the
children’s publisher Scholastic setting
out to find why their readership was
declining came across some pretty
startling results in the years 2010 to
2015 the percentage of students young
students who read for pleasure declined
from 60% to 51% for those of us
Millennials in the room the
20-somethings the way we spend our free
time is changing we don’t necessarily
watch as much television as do other
demographics instead we spend our time
on our phones in fact Nick the amount of
time that you spend on social media on
your phone today is twice that what it
was 10 years ago scary thought
I know granted I was 12 year old Nick
Burrell but we won’t worry about and
perhaps most disappointingly last year
Netflix officially overtook reading as
the number one way to unwind before bed
I don’t know about you guys this has
only hurt my ability to get a good
night’s sleep because I for one well
toss and turn all night over identity of
Gossip Girl or like how 11 and the boys
are gonna make it out in this episode of
stranger things so ironically well not
having technology gave me more free time
for creative pursuits I also felt like
my key tools for being creative were
taken away I enjoy writing music and new
technology has allowed me to record my
songs self publicized through social
media and distribute my music through
platforms like Spotify and iTunes as an
artist technology has given me more
agency agency that wasn’t there 20 years
ago without it my music project ground
to a halt additionally our week without
technology forced us to contemplate why
we use social media it can be tempting
to fall into the do it for the
instrument ality are we traveling to new
places and experiencing new things for
the sake of creative exploration or self
growth or so we can prove to our social
media followers just how perfect our
life is I have a vivid memory from study
abroad when Chris and I were on spring
break in Santorini Greece we were on a
boat cruise that was like a scene out of
a movie
snorkeling in perfectly clear water
swimming in natural hot springs and
lounging on the front of the boat
watching the sunset it wasn’t until the
end of the trip that I noticed a group
of people emerging from the interior of
the boat phones in hand
having participated in none of the
aforementioned activities and yes I
promise
Chris and I are just friends and weren’t
on our honeymoon despite how that story
sounds so then how can we find our muse
that needing to overly depend on
technology first something that Nick and
I particularly enjoyed from our tech
free week was reading before bed we
found that we were able to unwind a lot
more and get a good night’s sleep number
two let technology work for you use it
as a tool to enhance your creativity and
not necessarily confine yourself to its
limitations
number three we’d like to issue a
challenge to everyone here today
ask yourself what it is you’re most
proud of and I think you’ll find it was
something that you poured a lot of
yourself into not necessarily something
that you liked on Facebook or shared on
Pinterest so Nick we talked about a lot
today very busy talk we talked about how
technology impacts our productivity our
relationships with those around us and
our creativity it’s true so here’s a
quick recap of our findings in terms of
productivity while technology offers
some clear advantages it ultimately
dilutes our focus from what is important
and prevents us from ever truly being
present technology has also impacted our
relationships making it easier to meet
new people and stay in touch but we must
be careful not to equivocate a multitude
of shallow relationships with fewer but
more meaningful ones finally we can
leverage technology to unlock our
creative potential but only if we are
disciplined and use it correctly
Christa nice choice to unplug really
opened our eyes to just how prevalent
technology is in our everyday lives
thanks to this new perspective we are
working hard to improve our technology
habits and challenge you to join us will
you dare to unplug thank you thank you very much
I have to give this presentation quick
so I’ll talk to you later well dude
chill up I’m watching the crown take it
easy so as you can tell we’ll be talking
about technology I’m Nick Barela I’m
Christopher Mary thanks for joining us
today for our TED talk dare to unplug
Chris and I were curious about the role
of Technology in our everyday lives so
we decided to undergo a social
experiment earlier this month we
completely unplugged for a week
that means no phones no TVs no laptops
or computers and no March Madness Final
Four now I know what you’re thinking
Nick and Chris that’s crazy why would
you do that well it shows just how far
we will go to provide you our valued
audience with relevant insights
specifically today we’ll be talking
about how technology impacts three key
areas of our lives our productivity our
relationships with those around us and
our creativity our capacity for creative
thought so Nick turning first to
productivity it’s no secret the American
workplace has seen astonishing
improvements in information technology
since the computing revolution of the
1970s can anyone in this room actually
recall a time when offices were teeming
with filing cabinets and handwritten
financial statements as opposed to digi
files an email Johanssen yeah ask these
people they will tell you we’ve been
killing it recently telecommuting has
created a truly mobile workforce big
data has allowed firms to market more
efficiently than ever and customer
relationship management programs have
automated client service like never
before
but despite these improvements is it
possible that the technological
revolution has in some ways limited our
productivity last year Forbes found that
26% of the American workforce wastes at
least two hours a day at work be that on
their phone on social media through
texting or non-work-related phone calls
that’s a quarter of the workday every
single day what Nielsen last year
further found that the average American
adult now spends 10 hours a day staring
at screens that’s a number that has been
on the rise every year for the last 10
to make at the very least I’d say these
statistics they’re startling they’re a
little concerning but they may actually
point to an altogether detrimental
in American society we’ve likely all
heard the adage that you need to work
smarter not harder we as Americans
working harder than ever working long
hours or burning ourselves out and
changing careers frequently as we grow
dissatisfied with our jobs but we’re
only working so so long and so hard
because we’re working dumber and more
distracted than ever
so our week without technology backed up
many of these findings not surprisingly
it was much easier to pay attention in
class
it’s amazing how tempting it can be to
pull out your phone during lecture
sometimes it almost seems involuntary a
few weeks ago I was sitting in class and
possibly pulled out my phone and before
I knew what was happening I was on ESPN
checking the Cubs spring training score
yes spring training the games didn’t
even count yet what is wrong with me
well without technology I felt like
Bilbo freed from the ring and was a lot
more active in my class discussions this
also translated over to our study habits
where Chris and I were more productive
without constant interruptions from our
buzzing phone instead of taking study
breaks to watch NBA dunk highlights
I took study breaks – that’s right I
didn’t take study breaks which was kind
of horrible to be honest but definitely
maximize my productivity say what you
want about small sample sizes but my one
midterm during no tech week is the only
time I’ve ever beaten the average on a
finance exam and then additionally so
like well Chris and I are second
semester seniors so we’re basically
mailing it in at this point we weren’t
willing to completely bomb our exams so
this is where we performed our one sheet
of no tech week and we did in fact use
calculators so while technology not
having technology clearly made us more
productive in some areas I must admit
that doing any longer than a week would
have been impossible the truth is that
using technology makes us exponentially
more productive if we use it correctly
one example is I’m doing research within
the economics department focused on
baseball valuation discrepancies as the
name suggests it’s very data-intensive
and I basically had to stop everything
for a week but can you even do a count
of metrics regressions by hand I don’t
think so if so that would be my worst
nightmare
so how then can we recapture some of
that productivity without the need to
overly depend on technology first you
know Nick and I both think it’s very
helpful to try to limit multitasking I
found that when I wasn’t distracted by
trying to balance a Twitter feed with a
spreadsheet I was way more productive
number two it’s particularly helpful to
limit social media intake to fixed
intervals throughout the day I found
that I was more focused on the real
world when I was in it and then when I
had the luxury of being able to to
cruise twitter or instant Abed and
finally what Nick and I call you do you
one of the greatest joys actually of the
week was being able to start the day by
reading a newspaper by exercising or
even meditating and we really thought
they gave us some added energy so we
started the day on the right foot so
transitioning towards relationships
technology offers some clear advantages
in 1993 anthropologist Robin Dunbar from
the University of Oxford argue that an
individual can maintain a maximum of a
hundred and fifty significant
relationships at a time now thanks to
the advent of new technologies like
Facebook LinkedIn and texting it is
possible to far surpass that number and
nurture relationships over time and
across vast distances
unfortunately the technological age also
leaves us vulnerable to the narcissism
insecurity and shallowness that often
accompany these platforms particularly
within the social media realm research
shows that social media use can even
negatively impact our mental health a
recent study from the Royal Society for
Public Health
linked social media used with rising
rates of depression and anxiety rates
that have risen by 70 percent and young
people in the past 25 years in terms of
romantic relationships technology has
been a game changer opening up new pools
of dating and marriage options in 1932
Penn sociologist James Bussard looked at
5,000 consecutive marriage licenses on
file for the city of Philadelphia the
results were shocking more than
one-third of couples lived within five
blocks of one another before getting
married
technology has completely removed this
need for close geographic proximity in
his book modern romance
Aziz Ansari credits technology with
prompting the shift from the companion
in marriage to the soulmate marriage and
yes I know that quoting as these may not
be a huge boost for my credibility but
the statistics back him up
University of Chicago psychologist John
Cacioppo performed a study from 2006 to
2012 in which he found that more than
one-third of married couples met through
an online dating site so while using
these sites still comes with a form of
social stigma the fact that they are
driving more soulmate marriages is
encouraging
unfortunately this encouragement should
be tempered because technology appears
to be hurting our chances to find that
special someone in other instances we
are quicker to write off potential
suitors because we can afford to be more
selective a mentality that has caused
the average marriage age to continue to
rise as I’m sorry puts it we carry a
24/7 singles bar in our pockets making
committing to any one person a big deal
the rise of swipe apps like tinder which
is 50 million active users has turned
dating into a sort of game like I hate
to break it to any of the tinder users
in the audience but the odds that you’ll
find your soulmate
based off flipping through a few
pictures while brushing your teeth seems
kind of unlikely so I’ll be honest going
into our week with that tech I was
basically anticipating that I live under
a rock and turns my relationships but I
actually was pleasantly surprised by how
some of those relationships developed
and grew over the time particularly with
the people that I consider myself
closest to here at Notre Dame and
particularly with Nick since neither of
us had the luxury of being able to binge
watch Netflix for hours or cruise social
media with that end we ended up deep
talking at time we played a lot of
basketball and we became pool sharks
well maybe not pool sharks okay not pool
sharks but we played like a disturbing
amount of billiards III ended up
actually writing a couple letters to my
parents and to friends from high school
reconnecting in that way I ended up I
ended up actually smoking a pipe with a
couple of my friends who are pretty into
that like a like a diction level into
that
I ended up working out with a couple of
friends from off-campus they don’t get
to see as much anymore if you don’t know
me this is a massive statement I would
say like to find me in the key weight
room is like on par with a verified
Bigfoot’s outing on South quad it just
it does not happen it doesn’t and
perhaps most disappointingly Nick even
though we’re tech free for only a week I
was as unsuccessful in finding true love
without tech as I have been with it and
and I do want to take this opportunity
because this is a good-sized crowd and
you guys have been terrific all day but
if any of you work for tinder or bumble
or anything like that there has got to
be something wrong with your algorithm
because I get just so few matches and it
has to be something to do with your apps
and not just everything about me but in
all seriousness are weak without tech
really helped Nick and I focus on living
in the proverbial moments on building
true connections with people that are
made over real conversations and and
through that I think we both discover
that you can really focus on another
individual more when you’re not
necessarily distracted by a buzzing
phone so here are a few quick
recommendations based on our experiences
during no tech week
first we recommend using your phone to
make plans and not build the
relationship Chris it’s okay to ask that
special lady on a date without
exchanging weeks upon weeks of
meaningless text messages and Chris you
can be someone’s best friend in real
life without being their best friend on
snapchat
shocker so our other recommendation is
while you’re in social settings make a
conscious effort to keep your phone in
your pocket and engage with the people
around you perhaps consider not wearing
headphones when walking to class or work
live in the present moment and you’ll be
surprised at how much more meaningful
your interactions become so then turning
finally to creativity our capacity for
creative thought we all know that a
myriad of new apps and websites has made
it easier than ever to share your
creation with the world around us for
the first time ever Spotify and
SoundCloud are competing with
traditional record labels for the rights
to share artists music and actually we
can see that some
these results aren’t all positive the
children’s publisher Scholastic setting
out to find why their readership was
declining came across some pretty
startling results in the years 2010 to
2015 the percentage of students young
students who read for pleasure declined
from 60% to 51% for those of us
Millennials in the room the
20-somethings the way we spend our free
time is changing we don’t necessarily
watch as much television as do other
demographics instead we spend our time
on our phones in fact Nick the amount of
time that you spend on social media on
your phone today is twice that what it
was 10 years ago scary thought
I know granted I was 12 year old Nick
Burrell but we won’t worry about and
perhaps most disappointingly last year
Netflix officially overtook reading as
the number one way to unwind before bed
I don’t know about you guys this has
only hurt my ability to get a good
night’s sleep because I for one well
toss and turn all night over identity of
Gossip Girl or like how 11 and the boys
are gonna make it out in this episode of
stranger things so ironically well not
having technology gave me more free time
for creative pursuits I also felt like
my key tools for being creative were
taken away I enjoy writing music and new
technology has allowed me to record my
songs self publicized through social
media and distribute my music through
platforms like Spotify and iTunes as an
artist technology has given me more
agency agency that wasn’t there 20 years
ago without it my music project ground
to a halt additionally our week without
technology forced us to contemplate why
we use social media it can be tempting
to fall into the do it for the
instrument ality are we traveling to new
places and experiencing new things for
the sake of creative exploration or self
growth or so we can prove to our social
media followers just how perfect our
life is I have a vivid memory from study
abroad when Chris and I were on spring
break in Santorini Greece we were on a
boat cruise that was like a scene out of
a movie
snorkeling in perfectly clear water
swimming in natural hot springs and
lounging on the front of the boat
watching the sunset it wasn’t until the
end of the trip that I noticed a group
of people emerging from the interior of
the boat phones in hand
having participated in none of the
aforementioned activities and yes I
promise
Chris and I are just friends and weren’t
on our honeymoon despite how that story
sounds so then how can we find our muse
that needing to overly depend on
technology first something that Nick and
I particularly enjoyed from our tech
free week was reading before bed we
found that we were able to unwind a lot
more and get a good night’s sleep number
two let technology work for you use it
as a tool to enhance your creativity and
not necessarily confine yourself to its
limitations
number three we’d like to issue a
challenge to everyone here today
ask yourself what it is you’re most
proud of and I think you’ll find it was
something that you poured a lot of
yourself into not necessarily something
that you liked on Facebook or shared on
Pinterest so Nick we talked about a lot
today very busy talk we talked about how
technology impacts our productivity our
relationships with those around us and
our creativity it’s true so here’s a
quick recap of our findings in terms of
productivity while technology offers
some clear advantages it ultimately
dilutes our focus from what is important
and prevents us from ever truly being
present technology has also impacted our
relationships making it easier to meet
new people and stay in touch but we must
be careful not to equivocate a multitude
of shallow relationships with fewer but
more meaningful ones finally we can
leverage technology to unlock our
creative potential but only if we are
disciplined and use it correctly
Christa nice choice to unplug really
opened our eyes to just how prevalent
technology is in our everyday lives
thanks to this new perspective we are
working hard to improve our technology
habits and challenge you to join us will
you dare to unplug thank you thank you very much
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