What
different creatures we are on the phone.
My nephew Richard paces frantically while on his mobile. If in a house he enters and exits every room
as he talks. In our two bedroom flat he
marched up and down the living room restricted only by the walls at each
end. I am reminded of Richard because below
me on the rocks here in Malta I see another pacer on his phone. He is also on his mobile but is bare
footed. Despite the pain of the hot
sharp rocks, I recognise his tip toeing awkward stance as he attempts to cover distance
with his phone to his ear.
Has
there been a study I wonder of phone habits? One girl on the bus, headset in place, held her phone like a soup plate
under her lower lip. It was an odd
position but it was hers. On my flight
to Northern Ireland this summer a young Goth girl used her mobile as a mirror
for almost the entire journey. Picking
up tiny strands of her fringe, straightening it and then placing it in
microscopically different positions.
Each adjustment was examined in her iPhone to check for effect. It was a nervous condition; I’m sure, as she
did it for almost three hours. I was
more concerned that all her nail beds were infected with huge weeping
blisters. At such times I feel Easy jet
is taking real chances with our health by insisting on cramming us in like greasy sardines.
I
have one son who has to scratch his ass while talking on the phone. He hardly notices but it is a
compulsion. We all have our own, I
fear. I saw a young lady hugging her
phone like a baby to her ear, using both hands.
She caresses the receiver as if the caller will feel the extra attention
bestowed. In case you feel this is
unusual a recent study found that
“The users who we
observed touching their phone’s screens or buttons held their phones in three
basic ways:”
·
one handed—49%
·
cradled—36%
·
two handed—15%
So
her cradled approach is the second favourite method of holding the mobile.
In London,
I noticed a young business finance type, headset in place, strutting along the
street with a definite swagger. Pausing
at times to raise one finger to an earpiece and bellow his recent triumphs to
all and sundry.
Tourists
no longer lie on sun loungers listening to music, instead they paw their screen
with two fingers, texting, reading, responding.
In amazing places but connected umbilically to this lifeline.
Couples sit across romantic tables mobiles on
the table, checking their screen. Conversations,
when they happen at all, are interjected with vibrations, pings, music and each
one causes a response. Different in each
but always accompanied by that contented look, someone wants me. I am needed, linked, not forgotten.
The mobile phone has become an addiction we
cannot live without. A recent study
found that
84% worldwide say they
couldn’t go a single day without their mobile device in their hand.
What
does all this mean? We are beginning to
understand how addiction influences other aspects of our lives. Academic studies http://file.scirp.org/Html/36417.html
(Open Journal of Preventive Medicine)
suggest that Internet addiction is associated with loneliness and mobile phone
dependence in students. Other found that sleep quality worsens with
increasing addiction level.
The more one
reads the more disturbing it is to see how technology has so quickly influenced
cultural norms/relationships and even family dynamics. It would appear mobile pacers, ass scratchers
are just symptoms of a much deeper malaise.
