This is a sight that most of us witness on a daily basis.
People wandering about, oblivious to the world around them; communicating by machine, and often blocking out all the 'natural' sounds of their environment.
They are to be found in cafés, in supermarkets, on trains, in restaurants, up mountains, and even peddling bicycles. They are like a plague of disinterested introverts who are engrossed in themselves, and their little electronic cocoons.
Children do not come into the world with stickers saying 'Batteries not included'. They are given eyes, ears, and a mouth. They thrive on human contact and communication, then (at some dreadful age) they decide to abandon what nature had given them, and surrender to the use of technology.
Horse riders occasionally use the public footpath behind our house. Not only have I seen some of them actually smoking as they ride (very odd), but lots of them, like the gentleman above, are also plugged into music and texting (tragic). I'm proud to admit that I do neither; even on foot.
Call me a Luddite if you will, but I find this trend quite appalling; and extremely sad!
It's been said many times before, but prior to mobile phones, one never saw queues of desperate people outside public phone boxes. One has to wonder why!
I still don't have a smart phone and my cell phone is really only for emergency use or for the Rest Home to get in touch.
ReplyDeleteThere is too much to enjoy in everyday life to be spending time texting.
I agree. I prefer to look at the world around me, than at a small screen.
DeleteThat's me.
ReplyDeleteIt's also almost everyone.
DeleteI'm a woman; I multi-task.
DeleteIf anyone can multi-task, IT'S ME!
DeleteI believe it's called progress.....
ReplyDeleteYUK!
DeleteIndeed!
DeleteI believe it's called degenerate (or something)
DeleteLast year, our next door neighbour's 17 year old daughter was texting and bumped straight into a pole on the pavement, and chipped her front teeth!
ReplyDeleteI have seen young mothers give their phones to their toddlers to play with to keep them quite. Greetings Maria x
I've done the same even without a phone (I was about 5 at the time).
DeleteI get annoyed when I am speaking with someone and their phone rings which immediately stops the conversation while they take the call.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even have a mobile phone, but will probably have to eventually if we start going out and about more, but will resist doing so for as long as we can!
I refuse to have one, if people want to speak they can use my land line (not that I always answer that either!).
DeleteYou'll be pleased to know that I was on a walk with 17 through to 25 year olds yesterday and only one had a phone and that was used for nature photography, which I'll post tonight. There adventured and climbed trees instead. The lads do game but enjoyed the countryside yesterday .
ReplyDeleteYou obviously mix with a superior class of young person. Good for them.
DeleteCompletely agree with you Cro, they seem to have complete touch with nature and the world around them. And they're all going to have to wear specs shortly, because for the eyes to work properly they have to be 'taught' distance vision from an early age, something kids don't seem to get these days. I have a mobile for emergency purposes only, pay as you go, I only need to put £10 a year into it, if that, it's a wonder that vodafone haven't chucked me off their network yet!
ReplyDeleteI meant lost touch with of course...
DeleteWe are breeding a generation of poor sighted people with very muscular thumbs.
DeleteWhen i take the train to Tel-Aviv i am the only one who looks threw the window and enjoy the view, every one else is texting and shouting their life into the smart phone.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing worse than hearing people tell others 'I'M ON THE TRAIN'.
DeleteThere is, it's 'LOVE YOU' when they sign off.
DeleteEspecially in that half singing voice!
DeleteI - and everyone else - have to avoid walking into them as they go down the street without looking up. I sometimes let them walk into me anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's like driving in Marrakesh, the locals never hit into one another. We smart phones users in the street dodge each other by instinct, no problem. It's people like you who walk into us.
DeleteI may try walking with arm, and clenched fist, outstretched.
DeleteAt boarding school there was always a line for the pay phone when ever the girls were allowed to use it.
ReplyDeleteAt university halls of residence there was often a line for the pay phone at weekends when we had time to call home.
In Liverpool Kensington area there was usually a line for the pay phone.
In the rural village in Oxfordshire there was a line for the pay phone and not much privacy when using it.
I for one love my smart phone about as much as I hated waiting in line for a pay phone.
Helen
When I was at school we wrote letters; remember those?
DeleteYes, I do - a bit of a chore, but that was the only way to communicate with the outside world. Apart from the very occasional emergency phone call home for more money...
DeleteI hate this connected/unconnected world. However, it is what it is, until the next big thing comes along.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed, though, that my adult children are using them less and are more in the moment. However, my teenage grandchildren seldom put them down.
My young grandsons have 'tablets'. I worry for their sanity.
DeleteRight with you on this subject. For gods sake people, LOOK UP! There's a whole world out there. It might not be very pretty sometimes, but it's real!
ReplyDeleteThe other week the wife and I went to a restaurant, and at the table next to us was a couple with two kids - all four of them sat in silence staring at smartphones or tablets. That's f**ked up.
I agree. People in restaurants with the bloody things should be arrested.
DeleteIn a restaurant last week, horrified by a (very elegant and well dressed) woman at the next table, eating with one hand and texting on her phone with the other. Then she made a call and started speaking, with her mouth full, spraying food everywhere !
DeleteArrested AND flogged!
DeleteI'm afraid parents are using phones and tablets as pacifiers/dummies for children and teenagers. I find my smart phone to be a convenience -- but almost always I turn the sound off so that it will be at my convenience!
ReplyDeleteI know that my own grandchildren are like little angels when they're in front of their tablets.
DeleteMy phone lives quietly in my purse only turned on when we travel.
ReplyDeleteThe best place for it, methinks.
DeleteTotally agree Cro. My mobile phone is one of the earliest ever models. I am glad to say that I have never texted - and the machine is definiitely not capable of doing anything other than being used for the simplest phone call. And I intend to stick with the model I have.
ReplyDeleteI bet the battery lasts forever Weave. Everyone that I know laughs at me as I rarely call. And do text sometimes. And they all say they know it is me as a text message is a different noise to a facebook ping... And no one else texts but me. I cant be doing with that facebook. people telling you they are off to the loo, or having a cup of tea. or something equally boring. I am boring enough on my own.
DeleteI know plenty of people who say the same about blogging and computers. The same used to be said of bicycles and cars and atom bombs. I would suggest that the problem is not the technology but the manner of its use.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came to the Outer Hebrides 4 decades ago we had one of the very few telephones in the township. People would ring at all hours of the day and night asking me to go and get someone so they could pass on news or whatever. People also used it as a public phone sometimes: it was cheaper if you didn't have to pay. Then everyone got phones.
No, Cro Magnon (I assume your choice of name was deliberate) I welcome technology. I am inseparable from my smartphone but I wouldn't dream of being ill mannered (however one defines that) or walk along the street using it because it's downright inconsiderate and dangerous. But then I try and drive my car in a considerate manner too.
If we were all perfect we'd have none of these problems!