Phone addiction

According to one study, there has been a 40 percent decline over the past 20 years in college students’ ability to empathize with others. This trend might be partly a consequence of attachment to electronic devices, such as smartphones. Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and sociologist who teaches at MIT, argues that this new communication revolution is degrading human relationships. This shift has happened quite suddenly. The first iPhones didn’t appear until 2007. In a 2015 Pew survey, nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds admitted using their phones to avoid others (New York Review of Books, February 25).