I recently had an unpleasant encounter with my friends. After coming back from a walk outside, we all sat down to hang out and talk with each other. I unfortunately turned out to be mistaken on the latter. One of my friends pulled out her smartphone and started playing an attention-heavy game. My other friend opened her laptop, and after reading her Facebook newsfeed, began a conversation over chat. Hoping this would be temporary (as I don't have a smartphone and had nothing to occupy myself with other than the company of friends), I waited several minutes in silence before cracking a joke about how "we" were all so involved with our electronics, hoping they would take the hint. Without looking up, they laughed, agreed, and promptly continued with what they were doing. Frustrated, I left. The worst part is that this isn't the first time this has happened, and it happens with all sorts of people and all sorts of devices.
I agree that technology is fascinating. The things we can do and access using little effort and at great speeds within the palms of our hands are objectively awe-inspiring. There are opportunities to interact with people thousands of miles away in near real-time. It's easy to see why technology can eat up so much of our time. However, I think there's a problem when we begin to neglect the people we physically are close to in favor of playing with a phone, a computer, a tablet...
As seen here, 84% of teens own a personal media device. I imagine that for college-aged adults, that number is much higher. When I confronted my friends about the incident where I felt ignored after I had calmed down a bit, they failed to see the problem and had the attitude that I was overreacting. I guess I'll have to accept the fact that people today have become nearly inseparable from their electronics. I've heard some even take their smartphones to the washroom with them so they have something to read while on the toilet. I feel like a "get-off-my-lawn" type when I say this, but is it so hard to go without news or information for just a little bit, to spend time face-to-face, one-on-one, without texting or playing games? Yes, the virtual world is fantastic, useful, entrancing, but it's not real. When people get so absorbed in virtual worlds, they forget, overlook, and dismiss the multitudinous facets of our real world, where there is beauty in the simple fact that everything is flawed.
This was a beautiful post that I'm sure many individuals can relate to. I've had similar experiences with a certain number of my own friends. I agree the virtual world and electronics in general can be incredibly fascinating and advantageous, but I refuse to let them hinder physical human interaction. I think people need to learn a level of electronic etiquette wherein if you're in the presence of others, you don't take out your device. Unless it’s relevant to the situation, like looking up directions, or in the event of emergency, physical human interaction should not be substituted for that of virtual.
ReplyDeleteIn the presence of others, if I get a text, I don’t respond to it until I’m alone. If I get a phone call, I tell the person I’ll call them back when I’m free because I’m currently out with someone. Any and all web browsing can wait for when I get home. It’s just a level of common courtesy that one should expect and not need to request.
http://privilegesaboveprinciples.blogspot.ca/