How is handheld technology impacting everyday street life and our ability to meet and deal with strangers?
I think it is an interesting way to call it handheld; I would say “eyesfocused” because technology now takes all our attention away from the world. If it’s not on our devices, we don’t care.
Someone could be in the middle of the street and no one will care, but you can get their attention if they watch it on social media.
The more technology tries to connect us, the more we disconnect from the world.
People don’t want to go to parties and enjoy themselves; they just want to go so they can brag about how they are there. Couples film all they do together but don’t enjoy that time.
People cook food, and then it gets thrown away. We don't say hello; we just text.
Our devices have taken our eyes from looking forward to looking down. It’s like we need this “magical” glass to see things better.
No one takes photos without filters, and no one enjoys the view without looking through a camera.
I wonder when that pivotal point was, when phones became our new eyes.
We can’t deny that technology has a positive side. It helps us stay connected with people across the world. It can help people with disabilities have a quality lifestyle. Furthermore, it helps people live safe lives by guiding them with GPS.
But it’s those same benefits that's harming us. Younger and younger kids are starting to create relationships using devices. They have friends from everywhere in the world they don’t know, and they would rather stay at home and play with them than go outside and play with their families.
Some people rather criticize their governments just by writing on a politician's account and voting so that the law they are proposing doesn’t get approved.
Teenagers are killing themselves because they are watching unrealistic bodies and lifestyles on social media that they can’t afford.
I fear for the future and what technology can bring us. I think that the fantasy world and ideas we watched on those old shows and cartoons are just that, “a fantasy world”.
Going back to the main question of this prompt, I can only come up with more questions.
Can't we do something without our phones? Simple, normal day-to-day things?
Can we have an honest conversation with our friends, read a book, pay our bills, and do our job without looking at a device?
This kind of question only brings a set of new ones, and I think when that happens, we have a problem.
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