The mobile telephone, to have or not to have? Not a question anymore.
Today we can all agree to that we live in a totally digital world. When I grew up, I was out playing with friends and we talked and laughed. When it was time to get back inside, my mum just called me and so did my friends’ parents. It worked perfectly well.
Today, we communicate with each other through SMS, Messenger, Facebook or even with E-mails, just to mention a few of all possible ways. Have we forgotten how it works talking face to face? It looks like.
It hurts me when I see families together and both parents and children are occupied with their mobiles, or sitting at a restaurant waiting for food and no one talks, all heads are bent over the mobiles. If we forget to charge or leaving the mobile home, we feel lost. It’s like a part of us is missing and we almost go into a state of panic.
Daily we can read about the danger of being addicted to mobiles and laptops and we should ask ourselves, can we live without it or not? I’m sure 99 % of the people would answer, “No, we cannot.” I just have to think of myself, what do I do first in the morning? Well, mostly I go and pick up my coffee tray and brings it with me back to bed and then I of course, start my mobile.
First, I check my emails, who knows, can be something of real importance, next step is Facebook. It’s always interesting to see what the friends have done and are going to do and, that you have to scroll through a massive number of food images, well that you buy. If you are lucky, you’ll find something that looks so delicious and tempting that you decide to go for it the same day.
Well, next step What’s up, Line and Messenger, important is to check them all. What I like among the most, is that you get reminded of your friend’s birthdays. Here you have the opportunity to show off your creativity and make fun and beautiful birthday collages.
Normally it takes me 30 to 45 minutes this whole procedure. If I have forgotten to charge the phone and can’t use it in the morning, it feels like a failure and I get angry with myself. Do you recognize the feeling?
Another advantage with the mobiles is, you don’t need a real, old-fashioned camera anymore. The mobiles today make fantastic photos. Even the most advanced photographers, have realized that they can leave their prestigious Hasselblad cameras back at home. We can agree on that those mobile telephones
are very convenient.
I have started also to carry mine along as it counts my steps. Normally I am not a fan of all those apps that one should download, but the “Step counter” and “Swish” have become my favorites. In Sweden it’s so practical, you go for a walk and have no wallet with you and suddenly you pass a shop, let’s say with the most wonderful looking fruits and you just have to have it, okay the shop accept Swish. This is a reason for loving my mobile.
As much as I love it, they also upset me in the hands of those that totally tune the rest of the world out when they are texting or reading messages. How many times do you have to dodge that person walking towards you, face down in their mobile not knowing there is a world outside their screen? E.g., When you take the escalator or the stairs and the person in front of you suddenly makes a cross stop and you almost fall over him/her, that is annoying, as well as when you are queuing to pay and the customer in front of you is too busy with the phone and doesn’t notice the cashier’s annoyed glance or your irritation.
Maybe we also should pay more attention to the doctor’s warnings. How many times haven’t we read that using the ear phones might contribute to the increase of brain tumors. This is not a hundred percent sure, but it is quite clear that the brain tumors have heavily increased lately.
When you see the motorbike drivers driving, and looking at the Google maps at the same time, you wonder how not more accidents are happening? You read about parents sitting supposed to watch their kids playing on the
playground or taking a dip in the sea, but you just received a message that seemed so important that you had to reply immediately. It only needs seconds for a kid to get kidnapped or drowned. If it happens, you will never forget yourself or?
Our digital world brings many advantages and save us times mostly. We can work from almost everywhere and no one can see if you are actually in your office or have decided to make the beach your currently office.
We will never be able to get back to the, in many ways, old good time, but we must learn, that living with the mobile in our hands, must make us responsible and more awake, that’s the only chance to prevent accidents and other mishaps.
“Ring, ring, if only you give me a call, ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all….”
So, like me I will keep my 3 rd arm, the cell phone, for connecting with the world, weather forecast, booking flights (not good at it), hotels, taxis and on and on forever. But it’s good to remind ourselves that they can be a serious distraction to our social lives of personally connecting face to face and other more serious distractions. The state of Hawaii, USA is now fining people $ 60.00 for texting while crossing a street.
Here’s some statistic that might make me and you a better cell phone user:
The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
This link has some startling statistics and even jail time given for texting incidents.
https://seriousaccidents.com/blog/ten-worst-cell-phone-related-injuries-deaths/
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