Digital technology has been a lifeline during the COVID-19 health crisis. Yet, its impact on human relationships remains complex. It allows for work and connection in many domains, but does so in ways that are often intrusive , exhausting, and potentially corrosive to face-to-face relationships. The debate about technology’s effect on overall mental health rages on. Some researchers claim smartphones have destroyed a generation , while others argue screen time doesn’t predict mental health at all. After years of research on the topic , I have come to the conclusion that screen time can disrupt a fundamental aspect of our human experience — paying attention to one another’s eyes . Smartphones, even more than older technologies like television, have been aggressively designed to control and capitalize human attention throughout the day by drawing people’s fingers and eyes down to a screen and away from one another. Increasingly, people can’t look away. It’s all in the eyes Human beings are unique among animals— including closely related primates — in our ability to share meaning and collaborate on goals through the coordination of eye gaze. From the earliest days of life, babies tune into their caregivers’ eyes to find comfort and decipher emotion. As they grow , people build on these skills and learn to lock eyes with social partners to communicate and collaborate. The whites around human eyes are large, making them highly visible to partners. The result is humans are able to track the direction of each other’s gaze with exquisite accuracy. Some argue this evolutionary adaptation was fundamental to Homo sapiens ‘ advancement as a species .
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Screens are lifesavers right now, but they’re still relationship wreckers