Editor,
Looking for my phone seems almost as frequent an action as looking for my wallet.
The ever-present cell phone is in every pocket or purse. During intermission at the symphony, nearly every head bows in reverent review of recent text messages, missed calls, emails, twitter feeds, photo forwards and other important scraps of cultural damage.
I have driven the six miles home from the “office,” and turned around and made one more 12-mile round trip to retrieve the cell phone I left on my desk.
No object has had such a universal affect on humanity as the mobile phone.
Those of us who work with our hands continue to labor, but with more frequent interruptions. Those among us who have to use reading or figuring skills requiring concentration frequently turn the darn thing off, at least the sound, so they can maintain a train of thought beyond 30 seconds.
Humans love to communicate. We are naturally prone to sharing our thoughts and ideas. And we’re naturally interested in the thoughts and ideas of others. We pocket these devices and tendencies in spite of the required attention to possession and upkeep and upgrades.
If we took the time to write down our thoughts, and printed them out, the world would be awash in paper. As it is, we are broadcasting all of our thoughts through social media, so one could say we’re deep in an invisible digital swamp of increasing depth.
If we could color the fog of Internet communication with chartreuse dye # 5, we would be astounded at the massive cloud.
At some point, we may all be asked to turn in our phones and exchange them for the latest universal version assigned us by the great Telephone Company in the tallest building in the largest city in the world – Communications Replacement Authority Policy (CRAP), a truly national corporate movement seniors can believe in.
Dan Morris