PUT Them Down!

The multi-use phones. iPhone, Android, Hero, whatever.

Put them down.

Ah Ah Ah....I SAW that!!! Take that oversized paperclip off your damn ear! NOW!

Thank You.

Now let's chat.

The other day I was watching a movie at a friends house. There were four of us sharing time together..hanging out...having fun. All of a sudden, as though some predetermined signal had been received...all three of the people there pulled out their phones and started screwing around with them to the exclusion of each other and their guest (me). And no, they did not all receive calls or texts at the same moment.

My own housemate has become a phone whore too. We go to a movie, and on the drive to the theater...he's sitting in the passenger seat texting, texting, texting as I drive. Before he joined the multi-use phone craze..we used to do the most radical thing in the car on the way somewhere...we used to talk...TO EACH OTHER!!!

NEVER should digital communication become perceived as more vital or important than live interpersonal communication...but that is what is taking place. And as these phones become more loaded with features (or Apps), somehow they've become more interesting or stimulating than actual interaction.

That or their users are so entranced by the cool tech, the perception that they are being rude as fuck to the person standing right there trying to talk to them gets lost in the "novelty" of playing solitare on their phone (oooooh aaaaaaah).

I'll admit, the new phones ARE cool. And yes...I think maybe I too will eventually buy one when I can justify the price of the additional dataplan to myself.

But here is part of what gets me...the friends I mentioned earlier? They share a three bedroom apartment, none of them can afford a car, their budgets limit them to generic brands, but they all three have these slick new phones.

I can afford an iphone, but I'm still waiting (for what? Not quite sure). I use an old Motorola that doesn't even have a camera. Maybe I need for my ancient phone to fully die.

But it's really something to see a clutch of teenagers huddled together all hanging out...texting madly to people who are not even there, to the exclusion of each other.

It's just a bit wacko.