Living Through A Screen?

Like it OR not, we have a twenty first century problem and that's Living Through A Screen, at least for some WHO fall prey to it.  BUT WHO lives these days with NO smartphone on hand?  It's NOT so much an inconvenience as a total loss of contact with the world.  To be further than touching distance from our messages via Viber, Messenger OR Telegram, more than one run of ChatGPT OR Google search from every drop in information and unable to message anyone seems a disaster📘📙📗

So, WHAT's new?  WiFi access points are everywhere, even on-board some public transports in the First World.  Even cafes and restaurants know that NOT offering the internet is like NOT serving the right food OR stocking the popular drinks.  We end up ignoring each other by sitting across the table from one another and staring at our smartphones.  Many times, I've seen couples in a cafe OR restaurant BUT hostaged more by their smartphones💥💥💥

And many of us are so enthralled being 'online' via the multiple platforms of choice and as if being online is NOT enough, we even record ourselves via camera and videos even WHEN just staring on our phones.  More than an hour away from our smartphones and we may as well be declared OFF THE GRID but at the same time being ignored for the sake of a phone is deemed offensive and it has even sparked the idea of smartphone etiquette.  Several initiatives have even been attempted to put a halt to it.  I've seen attempts stocking their phones face down in the table😐😐😐

So, WHAT's a nice idea?  Get off X [Twitter]?  Stay away from Meta's Facebook?  BUT it's NOT that simple dude.  We seem to be fighting a 'losing battle' and it's human nature [NOT just technology] that is going against us.  The romantic idea is that without smartphones, we'd all be sitting in that cafe talking to complete strangers BUT that's simply NOT the case.  Remember the old school of newspaper tabloids and magazines?  They were just as good at distracting us from each other.  Furthermore, we CAN'T tarnish all smartphone users with the same brush❌❌❌

Our takeaway:  True, it's NOW a default expectation, professionally as well as socially, to always be in contact.  Many jobs mean we have to be ready to look at emails, available to cover shifts.  WHEREAS in our personal lives, if ignorance was once a bliss, and NO news was once GOOD NEWS, the opposite is NOW true.  As a whole, our dependence on the smartphone is NEVER likely to go away BUT can we embrace technology more as a gift to us, for us NOT to abuse it, LIKE LIVING THROUGH A SCREEN!@#$%?