The Smartphone Addiction
September 25, 2024
This week, when visiting the universe’s center, looking around, I was again the only one on the train who didn’t have their head down totally engrossed with their phone(s) (some actually have more than one). It’s old news, I know. But it’s no less pathetic.
It’s not just on the train either. It’s the same on buses and the subway. Nor is it just a public transit thing either. I saw it in Eaton Center. Someone across the table from me could barely divert her attention away from her phone long enough to grab a bite here and there in between texts. It was no different at other tables. Such people undoubtedly would eagerly sign up to have their food fed intravenously through a tube so it would free them up for more texting.
Even here, around St. Catharines, I keep seeing it. There’s a neighbor who regularly takes her toddler for a walk down the street. Yet as she’s pushing the stroller, she’s got her head down, concentrating far more on her phone than on her child. There’s another neighbor who is often out on her front lawn with her kids. Yet rather than spending the precious little non-work time she has with them, her attention is more often than not focused on her phone. It’s the same at nearby parks. So often I see parents sitting at benches with their heads down on their phones, seemingly not the slightest bit interested in their kids, who are playing on the swings. I’ve even been in washrooms where I’ve seen guys standing at urinals with one hand on their private member with the other hand doing something on their phone.
For a moment, let’s put aside the fact that these smartphones are, in effect, Orwellian surveillance devices designed so that the government can track your every move. Not much different than what happened in Demolition Man, where everyone was LoJacked with a microchip. And let’s not forget the immense cost of the devices and associated monthly plans. Increasing numbers of people are struggling to keep up with the high cost of basic essentials, yet no one among them seems willing to give up their smartphones.
But here’s a bigger question.
What's so bloody important?
What are they doing on their phones that can’t wait?
Someone I was talking to recently was utterly aghast when I told him I did not have a smartphone. Yet if someone offered to give me one for free, along with a free phone plan and some built-in way where I couldn’t be tracked, I’m honestly not even sure I’d take it or use it.
I just don't get it.
And I’m proud of that.
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