New Book by Tiger Roholt (Philosophy): Distracted from Meaning: A Philosophy of Smartphones

Tiger Roholt, associate professor of Philosophy, is the author of a new book, Distracted from Meaning: A Philosophy of Smartphones, published by Bloomsbury Academic. His research is phenomenology, philosophy of technology, philosophy of art/music. He teaches courses such as Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Technology, Existentialism, and Introduction to Philosophy. Additional information can be found on Roholt’s Website.

This is no neo-Luddite broadside against smartphones but a clear and careful philosophical exploration of what makes life meaningful and how smartphone use can either serve or undermine such meaning. Taking aim at the heart of our present age, Roholt’s book is consistently insightful and provocative.”

– Iain Thomson, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA

From the Back Cover:

When our smartphones distract us, much more is at stake than a momentary lapse of attention. Our use of smartphones can interfere with the building-blocks of meaningfulness and the actions that shape our self-identity.

By analyzing social interactions and evolving experiences, Roholt reveals the mechanisms of smartphone-distraction that impact our meaningful projects and activities. Roholt’s conception of meaning in life draws from a disparate group of philosophers—Susan Wolf, John Dewey, Hubert Dreyfus, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Borgmann. Central to Roholt’s argument are what Borgmann calls focal practices: dinners with friends, running, a college seminar, attending sporting events. As a recurring example, Roholt develops the classification of musical instruments as focal things, contending that musical performance can be fruitfully understood as a focal practice.

Through this exploration of what generates meaning in life, Roholt makes us rethink the place we allow smartphones to occupy in the everyday. But he remains cautiously optimistic. This thoughtful, needed interrogation of smartphones shows how we can establish a positive role for technologies within our lives.