> Is our obsession with these gizmos a temporary aberration caused by their newness and the fact that we haven't yet adapted to having them in our lives?
(emphasis mine)
Newness is certainly part of it, but not in the way I think you meant. It's not that the devices are new, but that the devices promise to deliver a never-ending stream of newness. There was a study done on the effects of always-available, always-fresh material right at our fingertips; newness as a drug. I don't have the citation for that off-hand, but maybe someone else will chime in with it.
The consequence of this is that I don't think it's temporary. Even as the devices become old hat, the content will keep coming. The rate at which new, hot memes appear is startling.
If the conclusion reached by the aforementioned study is true, our addiction to these devices will not wane as we acclimate to them. We will need to accept that overuse is a problem. Some people will struggle with it, just like some people struggle with other addictions.
(emphasis mine)
Newness is certainly part of it, but not in the way I think you meant. It's not that the devices are new, but that the devices promise to deliver a never-ending stream of newness. There was a study done on the effects of always-available, always-fresh material right at our fingertips; newness as a drug. I don't have the citation for that off-hand, but maybe someone else will chime in with it.
The consequence of this is that I don't think it's temporary. Even as the devices become old hat, the content will keep coming. The rate at which new, hot memes appear is startling.
If the conclusion reached by the aforementioned study is true, our addiction to these devices will not wane as we acclimate to them. We will need to accept that overuse is a problem. Some people will struggle with it, just like some people struggle with other addictions.