like rodents

What has phone technology brought in the society?

Last week while I was eating in a restaurant, I saw a family of three: a couple and their baby. While the couple was busily clicking on their phones, the baby seemed to have been enjoying a game in a tablet PC. All throughout their stay in the restaurant, maybe about a couple of hours, they seldom communicated with each other. The only time the couple had to speak with their baby was when the baby got bored playing and cried a little. After a couple of minutes when the baby got pacified, everyone on their table continued with their hand jobs clicking, pressing, dialing, or browsing on their smart gadgets.

In a seminar, while a guest speaker was convincingly addressing her ideas to the audience, most of the people in the conference area were busily attending on their phones. Some were texting, and some were just browsing on the social media applications. If you ask them about the conference, they would answer that it was boring. But in reality, they were not really focusing on the speech of the one in front. Everybody was immersed with his own gadget.

I so dislike a friend who incessantly clicks on his or her mobile phone while in a conversation. It really is annoying that you feel out-of-place whenever a friend pays attention mainly on his or her cellphone. Upsetting! It is really upsetting knowing that you feel being left out while in a group of friends who checks on their phones every other second.

Gadgets such as smart phone or tablet PCs have stolen either personal relationships or professional productivity. They are like rodents slowly biting a piece of possession until such time that they have destroyed that possession already. What is the future of this generation where phone technology is getting more and more advanced? Should we expect that interpersonal communication will just be a mere idea some years from now?