News

I'm mid-way into a conversation with a man when he quickly raises his hand to his ear. "I've got to take this," he says, and turns away from me. After waiting for half a minute, I walk away.

"Your son just scored," I tell another man who's thumbing his BlackBerry as he sits with his daughter at a soccer game. He grunts and looks up, foggy at first, but gradually his mind takes its place in the stands with the rest of us.

At the table next to me, yet a third man chatted on the telephone while ordering his food, gesticulating and pointing. He jimmies and jerks his way through a lunch order, clearly not listening to the caller nor the waitress.

After these incidents, I joked to a group of people that technology causes autism. But as I said it, I made a mental note to check on the official diagnosis of autism and make the comparison.

Autism, in sum, is a significantly reduced sensitivity to context. Though no one has termed it autism, pervasive users of technology are often said to be suffering from other ailments: iPod oblivion, cellphone zombieism, inattention blindness, problem cellphone use, or the CrackBerry prayer (named after the pose one strikes while discreetly checking his or her device).

How much sensitivity is lost under the influence of technology? Jim Balsillie, CEO of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, suggests BlackBerry use means a person is 20 per cent "not there." However, An investigator who published a driving and cellphone study in The New England Journal of Medicine reported "a 50-per-cent reduction in the processing of visual information." So a person engaged in the use of technology is, according to some experts, at least 50 per cent "not there."

Translate that into real life and you see the problem. Senator Liz Krueger of New York is currently seeking to ban pedestrians use of portable electronics because of "iPod oblivion." In January, a 23-year-old man reportedly absorbed in his iPod was struck as he stepped off of a curb. A few months earlier another man stepped in front of a city bus. Fifty per cent "not there" often leads to 100 per cent "not there."

According to the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM: IV), the diagnostic criteria for the autistic disorder requires the confirmation of three major features:

1. A qualitative impairment in social interaction.
2. A qualitative impairment in communication.
3. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities.

The first feature to confirm is the "qualitative impairment in social interaction." The confirmation requires that we observe a "marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviours such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction."

A friend shared with me a scene he recently saw that summed up the BlackBerry and family perfectly. In the front of a Lexus SUV sat a dad, deep in BlackBerry prayer, his young son, sat in the back seat of this vehicle, sulking and silent. "It's a moment that perfectly captures our times," he declared.

Numbers of children have hidden, flushed, or destroyed cellphones or PDAs to rid themselves of unwanted competition. In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Katherine Rosman interviews 9-year-old Bob Ledbetter, who reports fighting with his father to get him to put down his BlackBerry. Bob is unable to get his attention. "Sometimes I think he's deaf," he says.

Not only does technology help cause these symptoms, but it trains users into autistic-like behaviours. Blogger Charles Green wrote about a recent experience getting his hearing check in mid October: The audiologist related she'd noticed a lot of people in their 40s had started coming in with concerns about their hearing, but their tests usually came back just fine. As Green relates, his doctor blames cellphones and handheld computing devices. "These people have lost the ability to pay attention for more than a few seconds," Green quotes his audiologist as saying. "When the conversation requires more attention, they zone out, and lose connection."

Three other observations can confirm the "qualitative impairment in social interaction" are the "failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to the developmental level"; a "lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest, or achievements with other people"; and "a lack of emotional reciprocity."

The Journal's Rosman reports in her interview with Emma Colonna, a 9th grader who repeatedly catches her parents texting during family outings: In the middle of Emma's eighth-grade awards ceremony, at dinner, and in darkened movie theatres. "During my dance recital," she says, "I'm 99% sure they were emailing except while I was on stage."

The DSM:IV lists a second diagnostic feature: "qualitative impairment of communication." One of four observations is needed to confirm this feature. I think it would be easiest to observe "in individuals with adequate speech" a "marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others."

In fact, a "qualitative impairments of communication" is part of the point for some users. The Carphone Warehouse commissioned a survey of 16,500 people and discovered that 42 per cent believe it is reasonable to use a text message to avoid conversation, if it is done politely. The same study found that 21 per cent of the study group used their cellphones to prevent people from approaching them. There are numerous complaints from spouses and children that devices like BlackBerrys impair familial communication. Many companies have banned them in meetings for the same reason.

Reporter Dan Harris interviewed the General Manager of Sheraton Chicago, who admitted he wrote emails at the supper table while his wife tried to engage him in conversation. Harris interviewed Gayle Porter from Rutgers University School of Business. She said that some users are prepared to give up family time or time with friends to attend to these gadgets. In extreme situations, people, she says, "will give up taking care of themselves." Sometimes the impairment is deliberate. Sometimes the impairment is not.

The final feature according to the DSM: IV is this: Do technology users have "restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities?" Of the four observations that confirm this feature, I think this one is easiest: "apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals."

In her article for the Washington Post, Kathrine Rosman notes one family forbids their mother from using her mobile device from suppertime until the children's bedtime. The mother hid her device in the bathroom and visited the powder room frequently to stay in touch. According to this mother, "the kids think I have a small bladder."

Checking the device is its own little ritual cum obsession. Many users have reported hearing the cellphone ring or feeling it vibrate, but when they check it, no one is there. This phenomenon has been dubbed "ringxiety." A survey done by David Laramie for his dissertation noted that two-thirds of all adults have experienced "ringxiety." He found that the often people use their phones, the more likely they are to experience ringxiety.

Do technology users exhibit qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication? Yes and yes. Do they demonstrate "restrictive repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour." Yes.

Diagnosis: technological autism.

Definition: A pervasive disorder induced through the use of technology.