Materialism
I lost my phone again.
I don't know why I've been on a marathon of losing my good phones for the past three phones. Then again, the first one was "lost" simply because it refused to work any more.
Looking at the previous entry before this shows how the first three months of the new year is usually laden with tons of work that I barely have time to write for myself.
Writing used to be a daily need for me, but the lessened need to scribble down my thoughts seems to point to a lessened need to write about my issues in order to understand how to deal with them. At the least, my blogs are proof that there still is that interest to write every now and then.
Yesterday, while waiting in line for customer service for my phone problem (at the least I wanted to retain my number), there was a family getting their new phone. The son was comparing his uncle's iPhone 4 and 5 in terms of weight and feel. The younger boy told his uncle that the initial "feel" of the 5 would be a lot more different. In my head, all I could say was... "Well, duh. The dimensions are different so it should feel different." And they proceeded to weigh both their phones on each hand, and noticed that they both had a 4 AND a 5. I really don't get it... How many smartphones do you possibly need to be efficient and also entertained?
And here I was because my touch phone got stolen and back to an old button type phone that seemed to make a lot more sense in an environment where phones cost more than a month's wage. I began to wonder if I was jealous of their smartphone excess.
I looked around and noticed the people waiting for their turn, each looking at their phone or their tablet. None of them were talking to someone unless they were being attended to. They were, in this way, all together, and yet distinctly isolated from each other.
It was bizarre.
And yet, I was used to the sight of this... People being together but their attention fully absorbed by their devices. Once, I even saw people conversing through their devices despite being right in front of each other. Another time, I saw a couple whose idea of spending time together meant sitting beside each other while playing with their mobile devices.
My mind just cannot comprehend it. This is human behavior that simply does not make sense, and I cannot rationalize it.
Inasmuch as I remain skeptical about doomsday predictions, it's times like these that I become more convinced that if ever there would be an end of the world, it would be easily initiated by how people have replaced human interaction with material need.
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