Cellphones are so ubiquitous, they’re everywhere. In a previous post, I had suggested that cellphone usage isn’t such a big deal; it merely externalizes a mental habit we’ve always practised. I’m not so sure anymore. As the weather turns, I’ve been retreating to the malls where it’s warmer. I look all around me and am astonished. So many people all crammed together! Yet none of them engaged with their environment or with one another. Social media may prove to be the most anti-social thing we’ve ever invented.
So, here, I peek over a railing into an eating area and what do I see? Every single person has a smartphone at hand. Even the people who are together. You can see the little rectangle beside their food trays.
Here’s a detail of the photo above:
Here’s a shop decorated for Christmas. The conceit is that the snowmen in the window are texting one another. Their conversation is displayed on the window. Meanwhile, a shopper passes the display, so absorbed in his own texting that he’s oblivious to the texting snowmen.
