It’s 6 am and the city is still waking up. A man walks by with his dog and an old granny hobbles to the 24×7 grocery store. I’m alone at the bus stop. A man soon joins me. He looks down at his phone then up at the sky. Waiting for the bus to come. Another woman joins us and then another and another. They all look at their mobiles.
They take their eyes off the screen only when they swipe their cards . Then once inside the bus they continue looking at their mobiles. They stare obsessively , not bothering to look up save a minute before their stop. Everyone on the bus is busy with their mobiles.
And I see the same behaviour on the next bus that I take and every other bus. At any given time, I notice that all the passengers are obsessed with their mobiles. They are constantly looking down, fiddling with their headphones or swiping their screens.
Even those who come in groups , look at their phones and not at each other. Not a smile is exchanged nor a polite hello. Each person is obsessed with his hand held device. There is a sense of urgency, an impatience even to be connected every moment of the day with people who are on the other side of the message , tap, tap, tapping away.
And it is the same in the train and the tram and every public place.
Well, I am pretty much the same, but not with my phone, but my Kindle. So, guilty as charged.
But this is only when I am alone. Never with company. A lesson I learnt well – to prioritize people before things. 🙂
Shantala recently posted…Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Spoiler Free) – Rave and Rant!
Well being passionate about something like reading is different from being obsessed .