The Little Things..
As usual, I sat by the corner observing. Waiting to see if anyone from the fold would raise their head up from the black hole they were so focused in but no. The group of students I sat with were all engrossed deeply in their phones.
Not like I didn't have my phone to fiddle with or that my phone wasn't interesting enough, I just have this little tingle within me that always says “group gatherings are for physical discussions and not phone fiddling”.
It is now a thing of immense concern to see a large percentage of people walk on the street with their eyes fixed on their phone screens. I did a little survey one random Wednesday on my way back from school. I checked to see the number of people who either held their phones in their hands or were fiddling with it and nine out of ten people were victims. And I'm not even exaggerating. I do not know whether this happens only in my part of the world or if it's a general thing.
I'm uncertain about the nature of contemporary human relationships.One minute people are having a discussion and the next minute they are suffocating their phones. It could be for work purposes or just for entertainment but they still fiddle with the phone. And I usually have one question in mind “what about the human sitting right in front of you? How do you think they feel?” Nothing annoys me more than this.
We have all been victims of this at some point; at least I know that I have been. I know that at some point in my life, I was a part of the people who clung to their phone and if anything happened to my phone, I could have a heart attack. But then, I realized that irrespective of the fact that my phone is my go-to device, I could always live a proper life without it.
This lack of physical interaction goes beyond just phones. Sometimes, we claim to be extremely busy just to avoid mindful discussions with the people around us. One thing I always say and I genuinely stand by is that if someone really likes you, they would effortlessly create time for you. They may be the busiest of humans but that wouldn't stop them from dedicating a few minutes to check up on you.
This brings me to the song of the day; “Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin” released in 1974. This song talks about a man’s relationship with his son. it reminds me of the saying “an apple doesn't fall too far from the tree”.
Basically, the father in the picture rarely had time for his son. No time to show the kid a mole of fatherly love. Such actions would obviously hurt a kid and along the line, the kid may grow up to think such actions are normal. As expected, the son in the picture became like the father as he matured. No time to discuss with the father hence, the title of the song.
This goes without saying that one cannot sow evil and expect to reap good. We should try to prioritize physical communication. We have all day to fiddle with our phones and as such, we should cherish the little time we have in the presence of our loved ones. This way, we do not forget how to keep conversations and we also get to foster meaningful relationships.
Love 🤍
Phones are suppose to enhance communication but it could be said that they are now doing otherwise. Human to human relationship is gradually being thrown away...
And this is a really sad realization.
!LUV
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You are absolutely right
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
Thank you very much😊
@wongi, you are most welcome!
Technology and Humans... We gonna see a much higher integration of those in years to come. am 100% sure about that.
I agree with you when meeting up with friends, acquaintances and whatnot, the phone should be in our pockets, or somewhere else at least than in our hands. Like you, I feel on such occasions we shall be with mind in the physical space, enjoying each other's company without too much digital and electronics around.
That said, already a decade or more ago, we've seen youngsters sitting next to each other, chatting with each other while also doing all sorts of other things in the digital space. Chatting also digitally, WhatsApp back in the days, whatever App these days.
Last weekend I was listing various podcasts about AI developments. One of the podcast hosts made a comment that resonates with my thoughts. At some point in time we may have AI/Robot friends, instead of humans. We may even fall in love with such AI/robots. Think: Replacement of a pet. Replacement of a best friend. Think "Blade Runner", the movie of 2, 3 decades ago - and its sequel 2049. His podcast co-host told us he is quite scared about this though. He can't see this happening, ie people falling in love with a machine. But honestly, I can. What will happen with the physical contact, I don't know. Perhaps we invent things for this, to replace. Perhaps brain/machine interface can give us senses of touching and all. Or we simply de-learn such things. In Japanese society, quite a few peeps already have these companion bears and will become angry when they break, or someone else takes them away.
Back to phones: AGREE! In the pocket when we are with human beings!
I so much love the fact quite a few dance clubs in my country have started to forbid making photographs. Too many peeps experience a night out through the phone lenses. Even some of my friends did that for years. I always told them: Skip the memories on digital film, keep them in your mind. Stay in the moment. Stay in real life. Took me years until I got them into such a state
Whatsapp is still very much in use but Snapchat is slowly paving its way. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of people actually gave into the idea of having digital best friends and pets. If humanity reaches this stage, we would only descend the slope at a rapid pace thereafter.
Whenever this happens, to merge between humans and machines, I am not convinced this is something bad. For now, it seems so, but perhaps it'll be just different. Maybe even an enhancement, who knows? Time will tell, I suppose.
Certainly, time will tell.
Do have a lovely day edje 😊
We've had more friends online and those are the people we most times prefer to interact with and the reasons are best known to us.
Well, I'm guilty as charged but then I still try best to interact with those around me every now and then but it's really hard.
#dreemerforlife
Oh I can totally relate. The friends on can be so much fun to interact with but like you said, it is still best to try building offline relationships too.
Of course, they are the safest. The thing is I don't leave my house often, just church and I have some friends there too 🥰.
Now i feel like high-fiving you. House, school, church and the circle continues for me 🤭
Hehe, Interesting right? 🤣
Very interesting 😂
I know right 🤣
I have the same fear in me because of how people are engrossed with there phones.
If we are not careful, a lot of homes will be dismantled because parents will not have time for there children and children would prefer to be with their phones.
I believe this is a time bomb waiting for explosion.
But then again, we can be hopeful. Things may not turn out to be as terrible as we imagine, hehe.
Thank you for stopping by.
!LUV
You are welcome.
This is happening all around us, so sad. I have experienced it, both as the guilty one and the victim.
But, we could block out times for tech, and time for family and friends so that there will be a balance.
#dreemeforlife from #dreemport
I agree with you.
Excellent post and observations, and no it's not just in your country. The thing is, that mobile phones are the repository for or gateway to so much of our data, and so many of our activities can now be facilitated online. In the past, we would have used different resources to meet each need but now we can do so much with one device but the downside is that it makes us highly dependent on our phones. It's good in some ways, and bad in others. Sometimes a good thing is a bad thing and vice versa! But I agree, when we go out for meals with family or friends the phones stay off.
I dropped in from Dreemport this evening.
#dreemerforlife