The Lost Sense
OR: The Marginalization of Touch in a Digital World
One of the greatest tragedies of the digital revolution, of the smartphone revolution, may be how it’s completely marginalized one of our five senses: touch.1
Smartphones swallow up our sense of touch.
The sheer number of tools and toys that have been replaced by an app on my phone is mind blowing. Pen, paper, calculator, notebook, novel, telephone, wall clock, wallet, credit cards, photos, maps, video games. Sure, it’s convenient, cost-efficient, and space-saving, but it’s thrown me into a serious case of texture withdrawal. I yearn to feel the coarseness of sketch paper and the silky fibers of an extravagant floor rug.