This morning sitting in a coffee shop with friends and papers to grade, I looked around and noticed that everyone was on their phones. Dads at tables with their families. Their wives, holding off their kiddos while texting. College students checking facebook instead of their chem equations. Loners fending off insecurity by finding synthetic companionship. The couple next to me? That's right, BOTH on their phones. I'm sorry, but do y'all like each other?
Frequently these days, I'll be talking with people and out of nowhere--iphone. As my eyes widen in astonishment, thumbs flit across the screen, navigating, and oblivious to my incredulous expression. I mean, really, should I be offended? Does that mean the conversation was boring? Are the phone's graphics prettier than your friends' faces? Guess what, baby, you don't need to check my status update, I'm updating you right now, just listen and look at my face. Right?
I have a kind, honest friend who told me the other day that, although he loves his iphone (and don't get me wrong-there IS a lot to love, they're simply amazing in technological capabilities), he feels conflicted since he find himself sometimes unconsciously tuning out the real world in favor of a more predictable, controllable, virtual one. He's troubled by that, and that in and of itself is encouraging. Do others feel that way? Is the phone attachment psychological? habitual? intellectual? informational? emotional? Someone explain it to me. Please.
I should, here, in the sake of full disclosure, tell you that I don't have an iphone.
Kind of want one though...
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