Cell Phones, iPods, and Subjective Well-Being

Mediated experience is becoming very common. It is increasingly unusual to have an experience that isn’t interrupted by a cell phone call, accompanied by a podcast coming through your ear buds, or filtered through the lens of a digital camera. Digital technology has changed social interaction in more direct ways. For example, there are now “mobile clubbing” events, during which people dance “together” (in the same space) to their own music coming through their own music device. One might think that (at least in some cases) having our experiences interrupted or mediated by new technology is bad for us. By constantly attending to how to take the best shot of the mountain, we may miss its awesome beauty. Having a conversation with a friend that is interrupted by ringtones and brief conversations with other people a ects the character of the conversation. And a constant podcast soundtrack to our walks distracts our attention from where we’re walking and the people we meet along the way.