It's not only the lack of attention to the environment, it's the delegation of everything into a phone. The phone will tell me this, it will help me remember things, it will wake me up, etc etc. It's a "helper". By being a "helper" device it is subconsciously assumed that we are worthless to do a lot of the things that the helper device does.
20 years ago I could remember half the phone book of my contacts. The other half was probably not that important to me - that's why I wasn't remembering it. Then I bought a mobile phone and its contact list did that for me and now I'm like "ohhh I can't remember 30 numbers". LOL... why "can't" I? Of course I CAN. But my continued practice has affirmed to my subconscious that I can't. I've kind of went through this in an older article: https://steemit.com/subconscious/@alexgr/the-subconscious-observer-and-its-effect-on-our-life-and-human-potential
@Alexgr. Right on!
I'm a tech-lover but I do think we would do well to keep ourselves sharp by practicing cognitive as well as physical skills.
This isn't a new phenomonon though, it's been a common part of the human story. I am excellent with maps and a general sense of direction, in part because I learned to navigate before gps was a thing, and I still reference maps. But it goes much further: I hunt and gather food at certain times of the year. Some friends and I have an annual pickling party where we can and preserve food. Many people would die if they couldn't have access to a grocery store.
The thing is, I'm not much of a hippy or prepper type, it's just that I don't want to lose skills that were difficult to accuire. It's the same reason I do mental and written long form math once in a while instead of reaching for the calc.
Use it or lose it!
The problem is what happens with a new generation that hasn't even learned the skills (and obviously won't be passing them down either)...
That's too true. It's why I stopped using GPSs...
Yeah, how did I forget navigation... we've delegated that too.