Is an Electronic Apocalypse upon us?

Despite the fact that your smartphone can provide a beautiful moment of tranquility in your busy day (check out our favourite mindfulness apps), we are more aware now than ever of the dark side of technology.

And according to a recent article in The Guardian, we have good reason to be wary of the disconnect that a screen placed between you and your loved ones can create.

In his book The End of Absence, (Winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction) Michael Harris makes the rather frightening point that it falls on thirty-somethings to defend real connection from technology.

As the last generation to have grown up without technology, Harris sees this generation as ‘digital immigrants? rather than ‘digital natives? like their children.

If your Christmas was dominated by family members flicking through their news feed rather than actually interacting with each other at the dinner table, you’re not alone.

According to American health watchdog, the Kaiser Family Foundation, as early as five years ago teenagers were devoting more than seven hours a day to their devices.

The scary part is that this obvious disconnection does not confine itself to people within your physical space, but invades your emotional space too.

Harris references a meta-study composed of 72 multiple studies, which suggests that the online generation show 40% lower levels of empathy compared to their older cohorts.

We think it might just be time to impose a ?leave your phones in your? bag policy next time we meet for a cappuccino or get our friends round to sample the supposedly awful Fifty Shades of Grey wine.

Do you think our use of technology is isolating us from each other? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

Hannah Popham?@HannahPopham