My flip phone is not ideal. I don’t exactly want to keep it. It’s small, has a lousy camera, and it makes loud clicking noises when I text. It is by no means “cool.”
When I see my smartphone toting peers, I have a slight tinge of envy. My phone will never be admired again, its glory days short-lived. In fact, I fight the sheepish feeling that arises when I whip my phone out in public. But the real tragedy is the fight against our new culture.
The smartphone wave, like the addition of regular cellphones, has brought new social attitudes with it. Now, I’m just speculating here, but I’m pretty sure this is what life was like before cellphones were popular:
- We were punctual. There wasn't the last-minute excuse of “Sorry, be there in 15” texts.
- We were resourceful and probably used real paper maps—and understood them.
- We kept our word because canceling wasn’t always an option.
- We were face-to-face and so were our relationships.
Having a cell phone or a smartphone doesn’t make it OK to slide on the consistency of a relationship just because you can communicate that you’re inconsiderate. We hide in our texts to feel less guilty about not keeping promises. If I can be thoughtless with my cellphone now, what about smartphones?
I’ve seen my friends change. They’re there, but they’re not always there. Why? Because their lives are now instant, searching for the next high from a notification that someone just commented on your Facebook photos or that you have received a new email from your boss.
You might love that they instantly respond to you, but when it’s time for a face-to-face meeting, don’t you wish they could forget about that little touch screen?
The ease of communication on smartphones often convinces us that we are actually spending time with others, and that idea only increases the more “connected” we become.
A recent nationwide survey by RingCentral, a cloud-based business phone provider, found that on average, an adult spent nine hours a day playing with a smartphone. How much time did they talk with their significant others? About 27 minutes per day.
How did we become so grossly misjudging of the importance of looking someone in the eye? An even more alarming 81 percent of survey participants said they would prefer being single and keeping their smartphones instead of being in relationships without the devices.
At what point is the device capable of replacing the relationship? World-famous life coach Anthony Robbins warns, “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.”
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Has no one seen the movie Wall-E? I sure don’t want to be stuck zooming around in my hoverchair watching, talking, but never seeing the people in my life.
It’s something to think about.
