I think I’ve established already that I’m a cranky old man who just doesn’t get the kids these days.
But there is one thing of which I am thoroughly convinced: a person who buries themselves in their phone at every moment in which they are not otherwise occupied is missing something. And I mean that in more ways than one.
I’m not saying they are unintelligent or lacking in some kind of mental capacity. But I’m still stubborn enough to believe in what has become a dirty word for some these days – something called “normal.” We’re too afraid these days to speak our minds – to say that something is “wrong.” To say that something is not good for a person.
But this behavior is indeed not good:
1) To bury oneself in one’s phone is rude. It is to announce to the world that the world on one’s screen is the reality and there is little time for truth. We can be willing to allow for the occasional moment where someone may fill the time by glancing through items on a phone. Everyone can easily do this – maybe even a couple of times a day. But to walk through life with one’s head buried in a phone is to ignore one’s humanity.
2) To focus on one’s phone causes a deficiency in attention. One who does this is not only unlikely to miss something, they absolutely will miss something. When faced with real life, they can’t focus.
It’s like when I ride my bicycle. I use a rear-view mirror attached to my helmet. With a quick glance to the upper left and a slight turn of my head, I can see anything that is behind me for quite some distance. But what’s interesting is that sometimes after riding a lot, I’ll find myself glancing up to that same spot, expecting to see whatever’s behind me. I expect the same is the case when one moves through life staring into their phone every step of the way. Even when they’re not glancing into the phone, they’re expecting it to be there. Their attention is divided for short bursts, even though there’s nothing to divide it physically.
3) It takes the place of things in reality…like…actually working. I noticed this long ago. I remember sitting in the food court of the BX at Eglin AFB in Florida watching a girl mopping the floor of the Burger King. Someone called her – yes, it was that long ago that people actually used the phone to make telephone calls – and she stopped mopping, took the phone out of her back pocket, and answered it. It got me thinking: BITD (back-in-the-day), when an employee of a business was doing a task like mopping the floor of a fast-food restaurant, no one would think to stop what they were doing to take a personal phone call. Personal phone calls were for emergencies while someone was at work.
And yet now it seems to be the norm. But at what cost?