DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IS THE NEW SMOKING
We’ve all been there; You’re at an outing (외출) or a dinner table with friends but itching (하고 싶어 못 견딤) to check your
email or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Google+ or Yammer or what ever digital hit of serotonin you prefer. Have you ever “gone to the bathroom” in order to check email or come up with a socially appropriate (사회적으로 적절한) excuse to pull out your smartphone just so you can check your @ replies on Twitter?
Remember when the critical mass of smokers used to leave the table or meeting in groups to go indulge (마음껏 하다, 충족
시키다) their habit? I straight up (open my laptop at bars and parties, and then feel more guilty about that than drinking. A new British study released today backs
up (~을 뒷받침하다) what we otherwise know intuitively (직감적으로), that Internet usage is increasingly becoming an addiction. Out of 1000 people surveyed after being cut off (끊기다) from the Internet for 24 hours, 53% reported feeling “upset” about being deprived of (빼앗기다) online access and 40% said that they felt lonely after not being able to connect to the Internet. Participants described the digital detox akin to (~에 유사한) quitting drinking or smoking and one even said it was like having his hand chopped off (!). This British survey comes after a University of Maryland study in April that came to pretty much the same conclusion - With one student saying that she was “itching like a crackhead (크랙 중독자) ” after abstaining (끊다) from any form of media for 24 hours. Geez. Add this insight to the yet un- proven (증명되지 않은) concerns that smartphone usage leads to (~로 이어지다) Cancer and the smoking analogy (유사점) becomes more and more apt (적당한). But for the moment Googling the name of a movie you can’t remember is hands down (명백히) a lot healthier than smoking an actual cigarette, at least physically. For the moment.
* Summarize this story with your partner using the expressions that you want to be familiar with. ⭐ Indulge:□□□/BacksUp:□□□/Akin:□□□/Leadsto:□□□/Apt:□□□/HandsDown:□□□
Questions
How old were you when you first got a smart phone? What is the longest time you have gone without checking your phone?
Do you think life is better with or without digital technology?
Doyouthinkgovernmentshouldregulatesmartphoneusage?(e.g.Time,Age,Location)
Do you think the analogy between smoking and digital technology is appropriate? Which
one is worse for society?
If you have kids, would you give them smart phones?
Do you think that soldiers in Korean army should be allowed to use smart phones?
