What If Every Screen Disappeared? | Unveiled

What If Every Screen Disappeared?

With the hustle and bustle of today’s digital world, it can feel as though there’s barely time to breathe. Our eyes are almost constantly fixed on a phone, computer, television, on anything with an electronic screen. Some bemoan our endless devices, but given how dependent we’ve become, would we really be better off without them?

This is Unveiled, and today, we’re answering the extraordinary question; What if every screen disappeared?

Some screens are more obvious than others. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans own a cellphone, and 77% of those use a smartphone. Smartphones are arguably the essential tool in modern society, and we’re way beyond using them just to call people. The average American adult is said to spend around 11 hours a day consuming some kind of media, whether that’s listening to music, scrolling through social media, watching videos, or reading articles. And the majority of that is done via smartphone.

Nevertheless, eliminating just smartphones needn’t hinder society too much. At their core, they’re a blend of telephones and computers. So, our only setback would be a slight loss of information, but mostly a major reduction in the speed by which we receive that information. Smartphones allow us to follow news stories, for example, on-the-go as they happen - rather than via traditional media which tends to report once the story has already passed. So, with smartphones gone, our next best source of information is the plain old computer.

Unfortunately, though, Macs, PCs, laptops and the like are also no more. True, if every screen disappeared, we’d still have hard drives, databases and servers housing a world’s worth of data, but there’d be no way to actually see or use it. In terms of the everyday impact, it’d mean no more social media, because the profiles and platforms of old would no longer be accessible. But the disappearance of the seemingly humble computer monitor would go far beyond Facebook, Snapchat and even YouTube.

According to a March 2019 study by International Workplace Group, 77% of businesses are already transitioning to “flexible working” practices, including the use of remote employees. So, take away computer screens, and there’s no way for those employees to work - unless they handwrite everything they do, before sending every individual note all around the world via the mailman. All of a sudden, our immeasurable reliance on email is clear.

Of course, it wouldn’t just affect remote workers either, but anyone who uses a computer to work. So, it’d be pointless to even commute into the office, because all of those desks would be screen-free, too. And then, it wouldn’t be just the standard computer screen only, but anything computerized that requires even a small display to operate - that means most machines in most factories, all ATMs at the bank, all sorts of life-saving equipment in hospitals, and the various performance gauges in cars, planes or any other vehicle. And so, without screens, unemployment rates would be absurdly high, leaving an incredibly competitive landscape for the jobs that are left.

The millions now without a job wouldn’t even be able to watch television to pass the time. For decades the TV was arguably the most important screen in our lives, and though it has since been superseded by phones and computers, without it we’d be missing all our favorite shows, movies and video games. It wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of all entertainment - we would still have the radio, after all - but only as long as it was the traditional type, without a contemporary, light-up display to show what stations are available.

Elsewhere, the daily lives we’ve grown so used to are continually thrown into disarray. Most supermarket checkouts depend on some sort of screen to display, register and calculate the cost of your groceries. Take those away, and checkout assistants are now required to work out the total cost for every transaction manually. In these situations, you wouldn’t even be able to use a calculator to help, because that calculator display counts as a screen.

In general, the way we manage our money would be hugely impacted without screens, with banks reverting back to documenting everything we do, spend and save on paper. Chip-and-pin and contactless payments wouldn’t be possible, banking apps wouldn’t exist, up to date currency conversions would have to be handled over the phone, and credit card applications would mean reams upon reams of paper documents detailing all of your personal data. The possibility of human error sky-rockets, and the effectiveness of data security plummets. Without screens the stock market also crashes because even it in itself couldn’t function properly - let alone the thousands of businesses that are trading on it.

Why are those businesses failing? There are countless reasons, but one of them is advertising. Or, the lack thereof. TV advertising is obviously gone, but so are digital billboards, desktop pop-ups and in-app ad breaks. We could even see companies stop advertising on busses or along train routes, because public transport splutters to a halt in general. Again, digital speedometers and fuel dials on public vehicles don’t work without screens; but, also, we’d no longer have digital timetables or self-service ticket machines to organize us from A to B. At airports, there’d also be delays because of screen-less security. Manual bag checks are now mandatory and, seeing as travel documents can no longer be scanned, the queues at passport control are much longer. If nothing else, our screen-less society would have a hard time being punctual - even before we consider that most watches wouldn’t exist, either.

By now there’s a clear trend setting in; screens are information. They’re fast, seemingly reliable bringers of data, statistics, calculations - everything we need to go about our professional and personal lives. But, that’s not to say that a screen-free world wouldn’t bring some positives, as well. After all, you don’t need screens to enjoy books, walk across breathtaking natural landscapes and hold genuine, face-to-face conversations. Sure, devices to assist these pastimes will’ve disappeared - like e-books and FaceTime - but not necessarily for the worse. In 2015, the American Optometric Association reported that 58% of adults had experienced digital eye strain - which is various visual problems all linked to increased screen use. That would now be a thing of the past.

There are also plus sides in terms of money and employment. As we’d no longer have computer-fed screens to fall back on, even seemingly simple jobs would now encourage - or even demand ­- different, higher level skills. Naturally, this would have a knock-on effect in education, and could benefit society as a whole. A 2006 report from the US Department of Education suggests that increasing academic intensity - or, making school more challenging - would better prepare students for college. That tactic would now be needed for life in general, with the emphasis that was placed on teaching IT and computer technology now switched back to key skills like mental arithmetic, handwriting and problem-solving.

And finally, there’s the environmental impact that such a change could have. And there are plusses and minuses here, too. On the one hand, no screens would mean we’d use much less power. A screen-free society isn’t completely machine-free, so we would still need generators of some description. But, in terms of the electricity that runs an average home, for example, much of that would no longer be needed if we didn’t have things like TVs, games consoles and tablets.

However, the decrease in energy comes at the cost of a huge rise in paper use. Everything that was once shown on a screen - and was still necessary for everyday life - would now need to be etched onto paper, card or some other limited resource. The World Wildlife Fund warns that we’re currently cutting down 18.7 million acres of forest every year… That number would inevitably, perhaps catastrophically, rise without screens.

Love them or loathe them, screens are an integral part of the modern world. Nowadays, screen time means minutes and hours on (or in front of) our ever-expanding choice of devices. But, more fundamentally, a screen is any display that relays information, and here’s where it’d be incredibly difficult to give them up. A screen-free life means no social media, much less pre-packaged entertainment, and nothing to be absent-mindedly distracted by when you should be doing other things. But it also means that you’d never have watched this video, or even begun contemplating what such a life would be like. And that’s what would happen if every screen disappeared!