RE: Is my phone my life?
You are viewing a single comment's thread:
Oh, this this post! I recently watched a rather lengthy YouTube video where a guy who lived in the US locked ALL his electronic devices in a time delay lock, except his laptop.
He reconnected a land line phone, and if he wanted to go somewhere, he would look up the directions at home, and WRITE them down in a notebook, eg: catch x bus from street y, go to the stop opposite the thing, walk another two blocks, turn left, etc.
He constantly commented on how much it connected him with the people around him. He purchased a dedicated camera to take pictures with friends. He did that. He gave them prints. And there was this overwhelming sense of joy, watching this man film his life, without a phone, for a week, or month, or however long it was, rediscovering HUMAN FUCKING INTERACTION. (not in the copulating sense!)
And wow, do people not ever have any situational awareness at all when they wander about. No one has a conversation with a stranger in the store.
I am struggling enough at my new gym, where everyone seems to not have headphones or earphones in, and have chats and encourage each other between sets (even if they're working on equipment across the other side of the gym).
Is it so strange to live in a community? To be a part of a culture of humanity? To constantly complain about disconnection online when we can literally not be NPCs in real life, and ask the cashier at the shops about the last time they cried?
I am trying to be that person people remember. Not to the point of complete chaos, but because, I see them. They see me. But I don't see a hand holding a phone. I see a human who has stories to tell me. Who are worried about something. Who have their dreams.
Who knows, maybe I can help them achieve their dream, or maybe they me. You never know unless you don't act, and phones take away our agency and our ability to act. having said that... when I'm walking to my gym, you best believe I'm blastin' some sort of music.. from my phone, into my ears.
They don't listen to music while working out? What weirdos!.
I'm glad to see this trend, increasingly, too. More and more people, particularly young people, are going analogue which is nice to hear. I think we're scared, honestly, a bit. Of human interaction (which is insane, but there it is). so we hide inside our phones and hope nobody thinks we're weird even though that's what we should be hoping for in the first place.
We were too. I hid behind a book.
To be fair, when all people do is listen to murder-mystery podcasts, scroll a feed of despair, violence and "news", isolationism is probably worse than what it was when people were glued to their CRT tvs.
It is there now, in their hand, every moment of every day.
But gee, listen to me, I'm just shaking my fist at a cloud, fundamentally.