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| "Trust in Me" (1862) by John Everett Millais |
How have you fallen victim to these tendencies?
What devices do you possibly trust too much?
Saturday, June 25, 2016
4a. Once Automated, Twice Shy
How have you fallen victim to these tendencies?
What devices do you possibly trust too much?
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With regards to what devices I trust too much, my answers are probably the most common ones -- spell check and GPS. While I can hold a paper map without it feeling like an alien object, I doubt my ability to navigate well with it. I often find myself answering yes when my father asks me if I know the way when I don't, picturing my handy iPhone. Undoubtedly, I have experienced automation complacency and bias with these devices. For spell check, I can point to a Napoleon vs Neapolitan fiasco. I have also sat outside a building wondering where on earth everyone else was; only to eventually find that I was actually three miles from my destination. I can say that I have tried to correct these fallacies. I check word meanings and completely rewrite them if they are misspelled. I also study my route before I begin driving. It isn’t much, but in this fast-paced technological world, what more can I do?
ReplyDeleteI also rely way too much on spell check and the GPS maps. I sometimes use GPS maps to get places I've been multiple times, just so I make sure I don't miss a turn. I am a poor speller, so I use spell check way more than I should. This habit does not help me improve my spelling and I also mix up words fairly often.
DeleteYou pointed out to two very common, yet significant examples. All of us reply on spell check and GPS on an everyday basis whether be it while writing a paper or maybe even texting a friend. It sort of ruins our capability to think out and solves problems on our own. Concerning the GPS, it is needless to say extremely helpful but the charm of figuring out a travel destination on our own or with the help of a map, like you mentioned, has been snatched away from us. I might be sounding too philosophical when I say so, however it is true. The small joy that we receive from accomplishing seemingly minor tasks are in reality nothing but small. They add up to boost our confidence and turn us into the individuals we dream to be. Also, shout out to you for doing a great job at introspecting and attempting to reduce the bias that you feel you are victim of.
DeleteI definitely have fallen victim to automation bias and complacency. GPS and Maps on iPhone is a major problem with me. I cannot navigate myself anywhere without these tools and would probably be stranded if my device ever died or stopped working properly. Another is cruise control for my car. If I have a long drive to somewhere and the speed limit is the same for most of the trip I will set my cruise control and take my feet off the pedals. While knowing this is completely not safe I put far too much of my trust in the vehicle that it will do its job.
ReplyDeleteI trust Google far too much for comfort. If I am ever frustrated by not knowing something or how to do something I immediately turn to Google as my crutch. I usually latch on to the first few answers thrown at me and take them for facts. Another device I trust too much would have to be phone. It has become an everyday nuisance for me. From seeing what the weather is supposed to be like to reading an article on Twitter, I believe wholeheartedly that my device would never tell a lie. I fall into the complacency trap more often than I would like to think.
I can completely relate to everything that you stated. I am horrible about depending to much on technology. Like you, I constantly find myself using cruise control and I can not remember a time when Google was not a large aspect of my life. I also depend to heavily on my phone. It is most definitely my primary form of both communication and entertainment.
DeleteI can completely relate to everything. Just the other day I got lost on my way to my dentist because I was following my GPS and I had accidentally put in the wrong address. Had I checked before I left I would have realized I was not going anywhere near my dentist's office. I have always relied heavily on my GPS, there are only a handful of places that I could go without it. Also, I constantly find myself trusting Google, no matter the topic. If Google tells me something I trust that information without fact checking.
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ReplyDeleteAutomation bias or simply put, over-reliance on automation is a current phenomenon. It is not because we are incapable that we rely on automation more but it is the other way around. Because we have automation, we lose trust on our own capabilities. Unknowingly we lose self-confidence. Our minds are being brainwashed in a gradual yet steady manner; to think, believe and act in a way that places automation above ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI have the perfect real life example to support my opinion. About a few months back I had a heated argument with my friend. Over what? Lyrics. The argument was over the lyrics of the famous song called “All of Me” by John Legend. We were innocently grooving to the music when I sang aloud – “My head's under water. But I'm breathing FINE” My friend laughed and corrected me that it is – “But I’m breathing FIRE.” I laughed back and said - No it is FINE, listen to it carefully. He responded by pulling out his phone and opening a website which showed the lyrics to be consistent to what he was saying. He further added to my notice that the website was the most authentic one for music lyrics and they can never go wrong! Now, no matter how much he tried to persuade me, I was not willing to accept that I could be so wrong as to mistake the word that I could clearly hear the singer pronounce. I was speaking solely based on my hearing and logical capabilities while he relied on automation so much that even when he tried to listen to the song over and over again he could only hear fire not fine. The argument was left without a conclusion. A few weeks later, the website showed a notice mentioning how they had made a mistake and apologized for it!
This incident turned out to be a real an eye-opener for me. Literally and figuratively - I learnt that we must keep our eyes, ears and brains open. And be careful not to be so blinded by automation that we lose trust on our own selves.
It is almost impossible in our day and age to not fall victim to automation complacency and automation bias. These are things I feel as if many people are unaware of in their daily lives until they are given the definition of them. I really had never heard of these terms let alone knew their definitions until reading this book. After I read the meanings of both, I realized that this is a problem I and many people suffer from. Carr uses the spell checker as an example of auto complacency (67). This is something that I know for a fact I depend on way too heavily. How could you not when it is programmed into almost everything we use? When we are texting or writing an email, our phones automatically correct our mistakes. When we are writing an essay on Word or Google Docs, a word or phrase underlined in red alerts us that we did something wrong, and then we can click on it and choose the correct spelling or rewording of the phrase without having to think at all. When taking a test or writing an essay in class with just the good ol’ pencil and paper, I found myself having to think a little harder when trying to spell words because I didn’t have spell check guiding me along as I wrote.
ReplyDeleteAnother item I rely on too much is my calculator. I would be taking a test in Calculus and when doing incredibly basic math like two plus two, I would still plug it into my calculator even though I knew the answer was four. With a calculator at my disposal on nearly every test, I tended to overly rely on it with problems I knew I didn’t need it on. You start to doubt your own knowledge even though it is basic knowledge that you have known since you were three. I wanted to be one hundred and ten percent sure that two plus two was in fact four just because I had the luxury of a calculator right beside me.
In regards to the spell checking, I’d also like to add that this is also sometimes an example where blindly trusting the mindlessness of machines can lead to faults. For example, spell checkers that mark a word or sentence as incorrect because they cannot process context in the same thoughtful way a human mind can. Blindly following the suggestions behind that angry squiggly red line can lead to some incomprehensible or downright incorrect corrections.
DeleteAnd I definitely have to agree with your calculator example. It’s completely ridiculous, but I feel this compulsive need to make sure that a simple math problem like 6*8 is, indeed, still 48. I think that has a lot to do with a loss of confidence inspired by technological dependency, as Srijita mentioned above. The calculator can’t be wrong, right? It’s a machine abiding by a logical language of electrical input and numbers, so then it is up to me to second guess myself and my knowledge. Because of the perceived infallibility of the calculator, I just start to assume that I am either most likely wrong or must be wrong if there is some inconsistency in the math I’m working. I’ve found that I occasionally tend to seek this sort of affirmation in other tasks as well, leading to further dependency.
The one instance that immediately pops into my mind is when I fell victim to automation bias. My mom and I were driving to a swim meet in Tulsa. She told me to not turn onto a road the GPS told us to go onto because she knew from experience that it was a dead end. I chose listening to the GPS over her, “just in case.” Well, it ended up being a dead end and I felt really foolish for relying on my GPS over my mom’s past experience. Funnily enough, I read this chapter a few hours later and laughed at how easily I had fallen into the trap of automation bias. GPS is definitely the number one device that I trust too much.
ReplyDeleteI definitely overuse my calculator. I always use it, even if it’s something I know the answer to. I’ve just become so accustomed to not having to think about the problem at hand and just punching in some numbers that after a while I find myself having a harder time when I don’t have a calculator.
ReplyDeleteI do this too, constantly. Even for the simplest of problems. Why? Because I have always had it and have relied on it through everything. What happens when we do not have a calculator? You question everything that you are doing. You rewrite it on paper over and over to make sure it is the right answer. I also overuse spellcheck on my iPhone. I rely on it heavily actually. It is sad. I am just so used to having the spellcheck automatically fixing the words that I do not even think about it. Moreover, what is going to happen when we are in a situation where we do not have our phones to basically think for us? We use our phones for everything: calculator, spellcheck, Google any question that may come up. We as individuals have forgotten what it is like to just think on our own. I honestly cannot remember the last time I did not have a phone and when it dies I feel weird. Because that small rectangular device is my connection to literally everything. Family, friends, Internet, everything. If you tried to ask a high school student, or even a middle school student a question that they should know, they probably could not tell you. They would have to use their phone because they are so accustomed to looking up the answers. It is sad how we have become so reliant on technology. The weirdest thing happened a couple of months ago. My family was watching TV and my sister was playing on her phone. My mom looked up at her and said gees can we not just watch some TV together and you not be on your phone. My mom’s face turned pink and she said, “I never thought I would have said something like that out loud.” We no longer engage with our family the way we should be doing. We are just losing ourselves.
DeleteIn a time when technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate, I find myself relying less on the devices with which I was born and more on the devices with the screens I can't seem to quit breaking. I fall victim to automation complacency and automation bias far more often than I'd care to admit. My GPS, calculator, iPhone, and grammar check are just a few of the labor-saving devices I trust too much.
ReplyDeleteWithout my GPS, I'd be lost six out of seven days in any given week. However, what Carr had to say about the pair of cognitive ailments really got me thinking. He mentioned that if we are relying on our GPS, Google Maps, etc., then we are always lost anyway, because we have no true sense of our surroundings. Carr referred to this state as "transport" (132). Ironically enough, the Maps App on my iPhone gets me lost as often as it gets me to my destination, but I blindly follow my phone's directions anyway due to automation bias. Another example of this occurs when I'm doing my chemistry homework on my calculator, and I finally get an answer and it looks a little amiss, but the calculator displays that it's the right answer, so I just go with the calculator's response over my own. I've even gotten to where I use my calculator for the simple arithmetic now.
I also run a grammar check and Spellcheck on all of my essays, and, more often than not, Word will miss an error or two. However, because I fall victim to automation complacency, I have a false sense of security in the computer's software.
I have experienced automation bias before multiple times, but the most recent was on a shopping trip I took with my boyfriend to Norman. We were trying to get to Ulta Beauty, and he had no idea where he was going. I automatically typed it into my phone to get directions. I simply followed what my phone said to do and never even so much as looked at a road or street sign. Long story short, we ended up in a little airport with my phone happily repeating “You have arrived at Ulta Beauty!” Well, my phone was obviously wrong, and we did end up finding our destination, but I was disappointed in my phone. I had relied so heavily on it that I didn’t even consider it could be wrong when we were clearly headed the opposite direction of the shopping centers. Needless to say, I pay a little more attention now and take what my phone tells me with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteKamryn Akers
I work for a large employer “LegalShield” in the Ada area. One of my first tasks when working there was to pull a report of new accounts and to analyze for monthly, quarterly and annual trends. I had complete faith in the report and never questioned the numbers. 6 months later my data was called into question, I defended my data and provided the reports to corroborate my data. However, as I didn’t understand the parameters of the report I failed to remove accounts that were duplicates and thereby skewed my data. A device that I trust too much is my cell phone. I place total trust in it as my alarm clock to make sure that I am getting up on time every day.
ReplyDelete