I
f you see me fiddling on my phone, chill the fuck out.
I find that there are numerous blogs, inspirational posters and videos about how the use of cell phones is destroying our culture and our humanity. “Oh my God,” cries someone who must think my mom didn’t raise me correctly, “get off your cell phone!”
As is so often the case on the interwebs, there is a complete lack of a balanced perspective. Since this whole column is supposed to be about finding balance between geek life and “real” life I figured I would start with something that at its core is geeky and how to find balance in your life. If you think for a second that using an ultra-high tech device with a touch screen that lets you instantly communicate over a variety of platforms (instant messenger, email, phone, text message, Skype, and on and on) while listening to music, checking websites and shooting birds at pigs (or making birds flap, or trying to get to 2048, or crushing candy) isn’t the stuff of Star Trek dreams you’re being crazy. Using a smartphone is the most accepted form of geeking out there is. We are all geeks playing with gadgets.
The problem with the whole smartphone debate is that the anti-cell phone side of the coin is completely black and white. If you play on your phone in public you are a bad person who is letting real life pass you by while you “waste time” on digital fun times. Your children will grow up without you noticing, you will never see another sunset and you will die loveless and alone.
Fuck you.
I exchange emails with my friend Ronan who lives in another country a dozen times a day, I check Facebook and see what my friends are up to and comment and interact with them all the time, I play online cell phone games with people from around the globe, I can check Instagram and see photos that Scott puts up of his son growing up. At the core, just about everything that’s going on with your smartphone is connecting you with people in new and exciting ways all the fucking time. What exactly is going on around me that is more amazing than all that? Probably nothing. On the off chance that something amazing does happen I will be able to take a picture or a video and share it with the world. So dismissing all that as a waste of time makes you sound like a Luddite grandpa who is scared of the way technology is changing the world. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
