…once upon a time… in an age long far gone from mem’ry, people used to have face-to-face conversations… then the invention of the telephone brought the ability to use a machine to dial up another machine, and through that means, hold a different type of conversation… the type of hours-long conversations that had fathers of teenagers pulling their hair out when the monthly telephone company bills arrived… these contraptions were attached to walls, or sat on furniture with wires attached to sum’place in the skirting boards in homes and offices… came then the ‘blessing-cum-curse’ of mobile communication devices… at first people called them ‘hand-held’… (how else do yeez ‘hold’ if not in yer ‘hand‘?)… and the transformation of the WURLD of personal communication as we knew it had begun… fast forward to the present day… it seems in the cities, malls, buses and planes I move in, everybody and his cat, dog, and pet tortoise owns at least one, and often more than just one, of these…
…unlike the majority of other folks I know, my use of my Samsung is restricted simply to making and receiving phone calls, and SMS messaging, although I’m aware of the claims that they perform other functions – such as camera-WURK, emails, alarm clock, making-the-tea-in-the-morning, predicting-the-winner-of-the-Grand-National-horserace, booking flights at massively discounted pricing selected from thousands of quotes, all in the matter of seconds… whaddya mean, they don’t do some of this things?…of course they do, Mabel!… but here’s sum’thing I’ve noticed, when I don’t have my own nose stuck on the mobile’s screen – this morning I walked past a row of coffee shops, with lots of customers sitting at tables inside and outside of their premises…
…out of p’raps a hundred people I observed, at least 95% of them had their their mobile devices stuck to their ears, either talking or listening… yeez think I’m kidding?… have a look around yeez next time yeez are in sum’place like Starbuxx or Costa… I call it mobile-phone-itis… the delusion of being in communication control… the machines have actually taken over, good folks, the control is in reverse… but yeez’ll have to excuse me, I have to take this call now… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!
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How anyone can spend hours on end staring at a tiny screen beats the hell out of me??? 😉
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..Prob’ly the same syndrome that has millions spending hours on end staring at large screens, that man 🙂
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But al least with a big screen you are not straining your eyes. 🙂
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Your blog post title immediately had me thinking of this song … Communication Breakdown – although written and performed long before cell phones were a thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnfgRfhdpeQ
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…nice one, m’Lady, Susan! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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cheers 🙂
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Welcome, Seumas 😀
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Pingback: …mobile-phone-itis… the delusion of being in communication control… | Dragons Rule OK.
Reblogged this on Dragons Rule OK.
What beats me is people watching TV and films on this tiny screen!
And my husband commented that if aliens landed, they’d think were a species with one hand stuck to our ears.
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… 🙂 🙂 🙂
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I’ve just got the ‘smart’ version of one of these devices, and right now it’s scaring the crap out of me. It’s like I’ve invited an alien to live with me and now I have to try and get to know it before it drives me mad.
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…I hold onto whatever version of these miracle-devices I currently possess for as long as possible before the thing falls apart and I’m forced to acquire the latest model – that then entails about a year of learning how to switch the new one on properly… 🙂
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Thanks for noticing this strange behavior. You may be sad to know that it occurs across the big pond as well.
Just discussed this topic yesterday. I related a real life observation on the matter.
My wife and I were enjoying a Chinese dinner when a young couple sat at the table next to us. I didn’t notice any rings so its safe to assume it was a modern millennial date.
I believe just two or three sentences had been spoken for throughout their entire meal. They passed the time with their faces buried in their screens.
There may be an entertaining short story lurking about, but I’ve yet to create a plot.
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…yes, it’s everywhere 🙂
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Hear, hear (pun intended).
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…cheeeeers, m’Lady, Jennie 🙂
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😀
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Oh, I expected the comment box to be the top of the ‘comments?’ Took me a while to find.
Seumas… not sure what to say?
What do you think the inevitable result of not standing up, and thinking for ourselves is?
I recall you speaking of the horror of Tiananeman Square?
We should “all” have… the entire Western World, and everyone else on the planet who could… we should stood up for the Chinese people.
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…that, and many, many others… cheeeeeers, that man, Sean 🙂
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Hope it’s helpful Seumas my friend. ;0′
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I hate to see people who should be getting to know their neighbors keeping their noses stuck in iPhones. At least they’re often sitting down. What really scares me is people looking at iPhones when they’re walking (especially crossing streets) or driving. They’re a danger to themselves and others. —- Suzanne
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…we see that every day… blindly walking out into the traffic-ways with no awareness of vehicles 😦
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