Our Phone Addiction is Driven by Our Need to Connect
We may be glued to our smartphones because of an evolutionary drive for socializing, rather than a technological addiction to them, new research suggests. The desire to watch and monitor others, but also to be seen and monitored by others, runs deep in our evolutionary past, explains Samuel Veissière, a cognitive anthropologist who studies the evolution of cognition and culture. Humans evolved to be a uniquely social species and require constant input from others to seek a guide for culturally appropriate behavior. This is also a way we find meaning, goals, and a sense of identity. In a study…
