The parasite of the modern era?

Smartphones have become “the greatest parasite of the modern age,” according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) published in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

According to lead author Associate Professor Rachael Brown, smartphones pose unique societal risks, sucking up our time, attention and personal information, all in the interest of technology companies.

“These devices have radically changed our lives,” she said. “Despite their benefits, many of us are hostage to our phones, unable to fully disconnect.”

Associate Professor Brown said while the human–smartphone relationship may have started as one that helped us stay in touch and find useful information, it has quickly soured as smartphones have become near-indispensable.

“Our phones, or more precisely, some of the apps that we use on them, have come to serve the interests of the app-making companies and their advertisers more faithfully than their human users,” Associate Professor Brown said.

“These apps are designed to keep us scrolling, to make us click on advertising and even trigger outrage.

“The behavior of our phones frequently thwarts our expressed goals and desires in order to achieve the goals of the companies that make them. In this, users and their phones are, at least some of the time, akin to hosts and their parasites.”

So where to next? Associate Professor Brown said it remains to be seen whether we can restore the relationship to one that’s mutually beneficial.

“Evolution shows that two things are key: an ability to detect exploitation when it occurs, and the capacity to respond,” she said.

“In the case of the smartphone, exploitation is frequently covert and hidden from view.

“It’s not as straightforward as simply putting down our phones—we’ve ceded various cognitive tasks to them, such as memory and navigation.

“New collective strategies and interventions that limit what our parasites can legally do might be the most effective route.”