INTERVIEW
The goldfish would have a faulty memory and a time of attention of eight seconds. Starting from this premise, Bruno Patino, editorial director of Arte France, dean of Sciences Po and digital specialist, has just published La civilization du poisson rouge , in reference to the attention time of the new generations. Smartphone in hand, the latter would have a time of attention only one second higher than the inhabitants of the aquariums! Invited by Philippe Vandel's Grand Journal , the author explained his theory that "one second separates us from the goldfish".
Like a slot machine: a random answer ... and addictive
At the heart of his book, Bruno Patino relies on neuroscience and especially on another experiment this time with laboratory mice. Experience shows that a mouse that receives food randomly at the touch of a button starts to press the button frantically, whether it is hungry or not or that it has provisions in advance or not. The screen of the smartphone, especially on social networks, acts in the same way as the push button: it comes back frantically, whatever is found there. "The mechanism of the random slot machine is that, compulsively, we consult them, even when we do not feel the need."
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I saw that I did not stop my laptop when I wanted it. It's a system that is dependent on the addiction
This is how social networks are drawn, the specialist emphasizes: "so as to make us addicted" with permanent solicitations, among other things, news and notifications, in order to capture our ephemeral attention. Bruno Patino did the experiment on himself. "I saw that I did not stop my mobile when I wanted it.It is a system that is dependent on dependence.Very true mechanisms of dependence are at stake with our laptop and some applications," says the specialist who do not confuse the global internet with the applications involved.
Beyond 'available brain time'
One could also object that the time spent on a smartphone seems logical in view of these Swiss-knife qualities that replace for example the TV, a road map or the clipboard. "What changes is that the mobile phone asks us when we are concerned to do something else," adds Bruno Patino, which goes further than the famous become "available brain time" since the user, always connected , is solicited even though it was a priori not available. "It distracts us from the task we are doing and it lowers the quality of what we are doing", summarizes Bruno Patino who sees a danger as personal as societal.