When something big celebrates an anniversary, we usually shoot for the big milestone years. Twenty-five. Fifty. A hundred. In 2026, the USA will be 250 years old (sheesh, I remember pretty well when we turned 200. Doesn’t seem that long ago.). The whole thing is kind of metric.
But we’ve got a really big birthday for technology this year, and it’s a bit different. The iPhone turns 18 in June. Old enough to vote. And one could say that it already does. The iPhone and its successors of all types have changed the world. For the better? In some ways. Worse? Yeah. I’m certainly not the authority…but if you ask me, yes..worse.
Yesterday as we sat at a table in a very large coffee shop, I was able to watch three young ladies at the table in front of me. Two buried in their phones. One eating and apparently talking to herself. Then behind me was a table of two older men and a woman. All three of them were staring at their screens (the old man whose phone I could see appeared to be playing a game). I’ve also seen three people in the past two days walking down the street with their eyes glued to their phones. I’m talking distances of several meters — one walking toward me never looking up even once in the 20 seconds it took for us to pass.
Are they wrong? Yes. Yes, they are. A completely subjective statement, but still correct. They’ve all damaged their lives desperately. Sure, they’ll live. But they will never really know what it’s like to actually look up and see the world around them. They are ruined.
I have a phone. A pretty good one…even if it’s almost an ancient two years old. Just tonight I lucked into one of the best photos I’ve ever taken of one of my two favorite subjects — my grandson (my other favorite subject is my other grandson…whom I don’t see enough to luck into anything). I use the phone for navigation. I send messages. I’ll listen to mostly educational podcasts. Occasionally, when I have no other means, I might watch something on it (watching TV at night will put me out like a light, despite what the experts say). My phone is a tool that I use to enhance my life. But it certainly doesn’t rule my life; and I know that if I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t suffer much. Now, would I be some kind of survivalist guru that will lead the people after the next big worldwide cataclysm that puts us back in the stone age? Goodness, no. But I’m pretty comfortable knowing I could do without.
I don’t think the same for those who like the iPhone turn 18 this year. They (and actually people a few years older already) know nothing of a life without a screen in front of their faces. They may never know what they’re missing, but it would be pretty interesting if some of them would give it a try for a while. I think that would be downright encouraging.