Friday, November 16, 2012

When smartphones are not social.

Slight rant.

Last night having a KFC picnic with 2 friends, I noticed another group of 3 young women sitting nearby, transfixed by their own phones. The contrast between us three and those three was interesting: they were silent. I felt a bit sorry for them, they were wasting an opportunity to be with their friends and get laughter endorphins and so on. Screen time was overriding face time, and screen time was not as fun. Do you get endorphins from lol? I don't think so.

Worse story, from a little while ago: I sat in a cafe having breakfast with two people, not teenagers—older than me, and while we were waiting for our food they both played with their phones. I didn't have the right sort of phone to play with, so I couldn't "join them", and I just sat there. I was astounded, it felt like the electronic equivalent of them turning their back on me.

However, rudeness aside, I know it is nice to be in a cafe with friends and read the newspaper and stuff, tune each other out while still being in company. Especially if you see a lot of each other. Not giving each other your full attention isn't automatically rude. It's a fuzzy line.

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