Spent a morning out on the town on my day off, and everyone is just fucking buried in their phones 24/7. This realization was so absurd to me

Of course I’m not exempt from this shit, but no wonder people are having so much trouble making friends and creating meaningful relationships in this day and age. So fucking bleak

  • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    This seems to be an issue in more developed countries or richer parts of developed nations. I don't see this as much in my area. Smartphones do exist and there are a few who become attached to them but the majority still get out and talk with each other. If anything, phones are a great way of knowing when it's time to leave. You can tell people are ready to go when the majority start looking at their phones. It used to be that people just wouldn't leave until late at night because nobody wanted to be the first to go and I was never a fan of that.

    Another thing is that the previous generations were just as attached to TV's. The same kids you see glued to their smartphones and throwing fits over them getting taken away probably had parents who were the same way with the TV and their videogames. Doesn't make it okay but it always bothers me when people assume it's exclusively a Gen Z/Alpha problem.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      TV had some massive problems too. The primary difference was that the programming (yes, it was called programming pretty much from the start) wasn't individually targeted because the technology wasn't there yet to do that, so there were still gaps and windows for people watching it to do something else rather than get more deeply sucked in.

    • bigboopballs [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      I don't see this as much in my area. Smartphones do exist and there are a few who become attached to them but the majority still get out and talk with each other.

      where is that? (country)