Cultural affordances : scaffolding local worlds through shared intentionality and regimes of attention

Abstract: In this paper we outline a framework for the study of the mechanisms involved in the engagement of human agents with cultural affordances. Our aim is to better understand how culture and context interact with human biology to shape human behavior, cognition, and experience. We attempt to integrate several related approaches in the study of the embodied, cognitive, and affective substrates of sociality and culture and the sociocultural scaffolding of experience. The integrative framework we propose bridges cognitive and social sciences to provide (i) an expanded concept of ‘affordance’ that extends to sociocultural forms of life, and (ii) a multilevel account of the socioculturally scaffolded forms of affordance learning and the transmission of affordances in patterned sociocultural practices and regimes of shared attention. This framework provides an account of how cultural content and normative practices are built on a foundation of contentless basic mental processes that acquire content through immersive participation of the agent in social practices that regulate joint attention and shared intentionalit

Smartphone addiction is increasing across the world: A meta-analysis of 24 countries

Smartphone ownership and screen time are increasing across the world, but there have been few attempts to quantify smartphone addiction on a global scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies published between 2014 and 2020 that used the Smartphone Addiction Scale, the most common measure of problematic smartphone use. We focused on adolescents and young adults (aged 15 to 35) since they tend to have the highest screen time and smartphone ownership rates. Across 24 countries, 83 samples, and 33,831 participants, we demonstrate that problematic smartphone use is increasing across the world. China, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia had the highest scores while Germany and France had the lowest. We suggest that the clinical interpretation of these scores should be updated given current global trends