Earlier this week I was a guest lecturer at a McGill University program for a group of 36 international business students who attended a university in the United Kingdom. I was facilitating a three hour workshop focused on the application of neuroscience to management and leadership. The students were in their late teens and early twenties. The session was designed to combine a formal lecture with some interactive group exercises. Being used to facilitating workshops for middle and senior managers in the corporate world, I wasn’t used to teaching younger twentysomethings. My experience would have been delightful if not for a modern affliction that I am officially naming Smartphone Addiction Disorder (with the appropriate acronym SAD).

The majority of the students were glued to their smartphones throughout the entire workshop. Being a guest lecturer, I wasn’t in a position to request that all smartphones be put in a basket and used only at the break. So I politely suggested that it was in their best interests to put their phones away and participate in what was a fascinating and relevant workshop. Around half the students complied with my request – for about two or three minutes. Then the students’ eyes dutifully returned to their phones – as if they were in a hypnotic trance and not capable of shifting their attention anywhere else. Even during the interactive exercises, the majority of students continued to focus on their phones – slaves to the machines in front of them. You would think that, during their fifteen minute break, they would have shifted attention away from their phones to each other and actually engage in dialogue – but, unfortunately, this was not the case.

I felt like I was in a sci fi movie – talking to zombies who had just had their brains stolen by a group of dastardly, evil virtual aliens. While there were six students who actually paid attention and thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, the rest were captivated by their phones and incapable of focusing their attention elsewhere. Forget how rude and impolite this latter group was, they missed a golden opportunity to learn something new that could help them in their academic program and lives. At the end of the session, one of the six students approached me and apologized for his peers’ behaviour. He told me not to take it personally – that what I had just witnessed was the norm. He expressed great concern over the future of his generation and their inability to focus (on anything other than their phones) and build human connections with each other. He genuinely feared the consequences of all this recent technology and its impact on his generation.

As a result of my experience, I am labelling what I observed as Smartphone Addiction Disorder (SAD). The behaviour that I observed in that classroom was based on an addiction – no different than drugs, gambling, etc. I am far from being a Luddite – I am awed by the benefits and potential of all this new technology. But, like any exciting new innovation, there is a downside and, in the case of smartphones, the risks are enormous. The human brain is not designed to multitask and yet we seem to value a pseudo-competency based on performing several tasks simultaneously. We need to build relationships and trust and engage in authentic dialogue more than ever in our very complex, technological world but my experience earlier this week tells me that we are at risk of losing our human connection. We better start dealing with  Smartphone Addiction Disorder soon or it will soon be a SAD day for all of us.