PLUGGED IN OR PLUGGED OUT?

While purchasing a ball point pen containing a hidden surveillance camera at Brookstone’s, I happened to notice an identity bracelet on my clerk’s wrist saying ‘I am a Zombie.’  Intrigued by this thirty year old’s moniker, I asked him if he was, in fact, a Zombie.  Expecting a laugh, he very seriously responded that he had not yet become a Zombie but wondered if I had noticed all of them in the corridors of the mall.   I hesitated, trying to decipher his meaning.  He gently maneuvered me to the front door and pointed out the many Zombies walking past the entrance.  There they were – glossy eyed, expressionless faces bent over mobile devices while bumping into other pedestrians.  These were the walking dead of NorthPark Mall, who mow you over while engrossed in their social media updates. 

Device addiction is becoming a serious problem.  In South Korea, the most ‘wired’ country in the world, parents are sending their teenagers to rehab facilities in order to wean them from their devices.  The withdrawal symptoms are painful and real.  Many elderly women in the Northeast have always relied on neighborhood boys to shovel their walkways for extra cash.  Newspapers reported that this year there was a dearth of snow laborers too busy on their electronic devices to be wooed away by the chance of making $80.00 on a winter day.   Big city sidewalks face a new hazard with plugged in pedestrians plowing aimlessly through crowds.  Multi-taskers with blue-tooth’s abound in store aisles, like schizophrenics talking aloud to the voices in their heads.  And, of course, texting while driving is a serious transportation safety issue today.  Law enforcement’s ‘DUI’ designation is taking on an expanded meaning.

Whenever a revolutionary invention is introduced into society, guidelines for behavior eventually develop around the innovation.   With cars came ‘rules of the road’ – directional sides of the street, eyes on the road, and no drinking while driving.  With TV’s came understandings – no watching while guests were present, no disturbing others with TV volume, and a limited amount of viewing time per day.   With airplanes came boarding protocols, respect for personal space and noise, and basic considerations for communal travel.   But smart phones seem to have resulted in a free for all.   People appear to be in a state of oblivion when tied to their phones in public.  Pretending they are operating in their own phone booth capsules, these offenders exhibit no awareness nor consideration for those around them:  at concerts, they are more interested in instagrams and videos than actually experiencing the event; at restaurants, kids and grown-ups are glued to their phones instead of interacting; at movies, flashing lights erupt from the audience interrupting the screening; and in elevators, stores, restrooms, government offices, hospitals, and malls we are forced to absorb the personal conversations of others continually talking on their phones.

 

I do not want to sound like some non-progressive who is stuck in the past.   Most young people today insist that their phones are smart tools which in no way negatively impact their social skills.  Many believe they are multi-tasking, though neurologists have confirmed that the brain is merely switching from one activity to another and not actually doing two things at once.  Those growing up with techno devices seem to be able to tune others out when they are plugged in, so have no sense of any problems.  Perhaps, the ‘rules of the Cloud” have simply not developed yet.   

Is the chronic use of devices contributing to attention deficit and creating a society that is unable to maintain focus beyond a twitter feed?  Have text messages become a substitute for social skills?  Do electronic devices allow human beings to remain in self- created bubbles, protecting them from experiencing themselves as insignificant parts of a larger society?   Do electronic devices shield us from the vulnerability that surrounds verbal communication?  Will our devices result in less personal interaction and more separation from others?  Is there a new sense of entitlement in having the right to use your electronic device whenever you want, with no regard for its intrusiveness upon others?  All questions to be considered as we navigate this new normal………