The Phones are Winning

I Forgot my Phone by Charlene deGuzman

Such a perfect time for me to see this Video. I’ve been meaning to tell you about a few absolutely crazy phone incidents in the last couple weeks & how appalled  I’ve been over the  same thing Charlene is showing everyone. People aren’t talking to each other in person. They just keep staring at their phones.  And from my last couple of weeks, this trend seems to be escalating at enormous speeds!

Here’s my list of  my MOST outrageous moments during the obliviation of in person human interaction in 2013 as the Mobile Phone takes over Everything:

• Two weeks ago, I walked to my car after work around 7:20 pm on a Friday night. I stopped at the Hawaii Theatre and witnessed this.  8 people staring at their phones on the sidewalk, all of which were with each other, all of which were NOT talking to each other, just staring at their phones.  ONE friend of theirs following a few steps behind said “Oh My God, I should do something, what should I do, I guess I should take a picture of them or something”  I just looked at him, rolled my eyeballs and said “yep, I guess you should”  If it wasnt for him saying something, I would have thought it was a staged  fake let’s make a joke moment, but it was real. In fact it was so real, the 8 people didn’t even see me walk by or HEAR their friend make his comment. They just kept staring at their phones.  Friday Night in the Big City!
• Just a few days ago Senator McCain was caught playing poker on his smartphone during a 3.5 hour meeting.  I know, that’s a long time for a meeting, but come on-Video Poker at an important meeting with important people discussing important subjucts?  The cool thing was at least he didn’t try to deny it, he actually admitted to doing this!
• This past Sunday one of my Facebook “frends” wrote the following.  “Just wanted to let everyone know, I will be not available and will be off the grid for the next hour while my phone re-charges”  I was reading this sentence and figured he would say I will be off the grid for the next 6 hours or a day or two.  But ONE frickin’ HOUR! OMG-Dude No one will miss you for an hour, trust me.  Note:  The guy was serious, he was NOT joking.
• And of course, the usual, people checking and nowadays actually writing back to texts during meetings at work. And people going out to eat and checking their phone more than chatting with each other. Me, I still am trying hard to just take a quick picture of the food if it looks tasty, then I put my phone on silent until the meal is over. That works for me. But, I’m also someone who loves to fly, because I get 10-12 hours away from my phone, get to relax, read, sleep, watch movies and chat to my seat mate. I don’t mind that at all.
• The last four Yoga classes I went to, I noticed 3 out of 4 people which is 75% of the people in the class. Couldn’t even make it down the stairs before they checked their phones! Even 6 months ago, it was less than half. And this is after a simple 1.2 hour Yoga class. That’s really not too long to be away from a phone .. especially on a Saturday.

The video above, isn’t really as funny as some people think, it is R-E-A-L life living in September 2013.  I dare you to leave your phone at home on a Saturday or Sunday or even a Monday. I bet if you try it on a Monday, you may even take the car, train or walk back home to get it half way through your morning.

I’ve tried a couple of “No-Techno” Days in the last couple months and even I get a funny feeling that I’m missing something like my keys or my wallet. It’s a bit unsettling. But if you and I don’t try it we may end up like the 8 people standing on the street corner on a Happening Friday night in the BIG City, just staring at our phones, which we could just do at home without 7 other people with us.

What do you think?  Will things go even further away from human interaction before we start to interact again? Will things keep going crazier with the Samsung Gear & the HOT watch to the point where we don’t talk to each other in person at all? or will the backlash happen?  I may write a book or a screenplay on the future (The future being 2015) Where no one Talks to each other in person anymore, Could be a scary place, or it might just seem plain NORMAL to you .. hopefully not me..Hopefully..I don’t even know most of my FB and Twitter “Friends” Although, come to think of it,  I do know a lot of my Instagram buddies, so I guess even I could just cruise on instagram if the world ends up without person to person human interaction. It could be possible. Yikes!

Have a Great Weekend!   See you on the streetz of Oahu by Diamond Head, Makiki, Waikiki, Manoa, Downtown-Chinatown and hopefully Kailua.