I don't want this to turn spiritual or political. I'm not interested in what your rabbi or priest said nor does it matter what the lady on the bus told you and no this is not another thread like
this.
I want you to take a moment (or more) and truly look deep down and think if your overall life is better now that smartphones have taken over. I'm focusing on the "smart" part, I don't think anyone would argue that cellphones as they were once known are a problem and, yes, life
did improve when mobile phones came to be. (The person that yaps away on their phone while on a crowded bus or in a quiet waiting room is the problem, not the phone)
Smart. The fact that it destroys your dinner table? (I know, I know, you put it on vibrate) The fact that you can text and drive and miraculously come out alive? (I know, I know, your sooo good at it) The fact that you have "whatsapp chats" of every shape and size stealing the last few free minutes that mom and dad have for their kids and/or for each other? (I know, I know, if you don't reply someone else will) The fact that you can sit aimlessly just...scrolling. Simply scrolling. Scrolling up. Scrolling down. Scrolling sideways. Just scrolling... (I know, I know, it's the 2019 version of 'reading the paper')
Washing machines as we know them enabled one to no longer have to trek down to the river and wash the clothes, life improved tremendously, and an enormous amount of time was now freed up. That was in the early 1900s, today, about 100 years later they haven't changed that much. They might be smaller or have more buttons, but they still just wash whatever you decide to put in them. You still push the button(s) and walk away.
Smartphones came along about 15 years ago and since then they have changed countless times in size, shape, and features. It still functions as a phone – connecting people from one end of the earth to the other in real time wirelessly – but that is sooo old school. Now this “phone” counts your steps. It deposits your checks. It records... everything. It buys your groceries. It wakes you up. It lets you see grandma on the other coast. It lets you know when grandpa came home. It lets you raise the heating from your car and lets you lower the AC while you wait to deplane. It calls your cab, orders your lunch, tracks your stocks, and tracks your inventory. It watches your front door and locks your back door. It opens the garage and closes your trunk. It pays the babysitter and invoices the client. It turns your lights on and turns your microwave off. It connects you with your friend from elementary school and ensures you never hear from the weird guy at the bus stop. It directs you around traffic and navigates you through those back alleys. It lets you know who won the game and gets you the best seats to the next one. It is your calculator, your watch, your timer, your camera, your camcorder, your music player, your compass, your dictionary, your thesaurus, your encyclopedia, your map, your scorekeeper, your calendar, and even your money and passport.
BUT, is it your friend? Does the smartphone for all it has to offer give you more ‘time’ or does it just give you more timewasting activities?
You just saved 30 minutes by depositing a check on your phone rather then in the bank and in theory that should give you 30 more minutes to play with your kids, right? To eat a meal at a table rather then an “energy” bar on the go. To spend time with your spouse / mom / dad / a friend in need. Or did it give you time to get 30 more likes on Instagram? Which then led you to boasting about it on facebook, which led you to update your whatsapp status, which led your bff to update their snapchat status while your favorite chef just posted a new recipe which OMG I just have to check, which leads you back to Instagram but your suddenly stopped at the sound of a new email letting you know that your local dept store is giving away free tote bags to the first 500 people so you rush to post that on the neighborhood “free stuff” chat and then you see a whole slew of new messages that came in during the last 2 minutes. It’s a vicious cycle that repeats again, and again, and again.
Sadly, your spouse / mom / dad / friends/ kids fall farther and farther away. It’s scary to think what the next 15 years or so will bring.
Oh, you’ll tell me it’s so much easier to study now that I have all my notes in my pocket. Or that your exercising so much more now that you can see how many steps you’ve taken. Or that you (and/or your kids) don’t have to wait for the bus in the cold anymore because your bus chat lets you know when the bus started. Or you can now get into a toasty warm car in the winter or a freezing cold one in the summer thanks to your cars app. Or you can have your cake and eat it too just by lifting no more then a few fingers (not hands, not feet, just fingers) thanks to doordash/uber eats/seamless/grub hub.
There’s no denying your life has a lot more conveniences now but that’s just it, it’s a convenience. Do all these extra perks outweigh the mounting burdens you are creating by imploding into whatever device is occupying your precious hands?
I think it’s time to finally put our smartphone into our dumb washing machine push the button and walk away. Walk away feeling refreshed without even having to wait for the washing cycle to complete. Walk away to the bank with that check you need to deposit and, on the way, say hello to that neighbor you used to see when you waited for the bus because you didn’t know when it was coming.
Life is great, the world is a beautiful place, why confine it all into a 6 inch screen?
(Note: I specifically avoided any spiritual/religious points, please don’t overrun this with them. And please, please, please don’t be that guy - “if you don’t have smartphone how are you going to post this” )