'I Forgot My Phone'

[Dick Whitman]

Very funny YouTube video with about 18,000,000 page views and counting on our smart phone-obsessed culture:



The video was the subject of a New York Times piece this weekend, in which it was noted that some Brooklyn restaurants have banned customers from taking photos of their food, so out of hand is that action. (YankeeFan will now no longer be able to eat there.)

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/disruptions-more-connected-yet-more-alone/?_r=0

Just some interesting material on the smart phone's creeping ubiquity, and perhaps a coming back lash. I thought it dove tailed a little with some of the texting-and-driving threads we've been having lately.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Forbes column on it: Could you turn off your smart phone for 100 days?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/09/03/can-you-turn-off-your-smartphone-for-the-next-100-days/

I Forgot My Phone depicts another phenomenon which I don’t understand at all – people are growing more interested in the process of recording and transmitting their life experience – through videos, selfies, and Tweets — on their smartphones than on directly interacting with people.

 

[Songbird]

I sort of did something like 18 months ago walking around NYC. (It's better in HD)

http://incrediblekulk.blogspot.com/2012/03/picture-show-sould-out-on-technology.html

(The dude at the 3:35 mark looks like the younger Tsarnev brother.)

 

[Dick Whitman]

It's gotten really, really bad. And I can be as bad as anybody, though I'm really, really trying to get better. I posted some rant about it here recently, maybe on the texting-and-driving thread. We've all just become dopamine addicts. It's why I post here sometimes, too. I find it sad, though I know plenty will disagree. I'm not a Luddite. I know smart phones have a lot of great functions, and I've actually stood up for them when people gripe about EBT users pulling out an iPhone. But we've become slaves to them in a few short years. I want my brain and my community back.

 

[YankeeFan]

I read the Times article, but didn't bother watching the video. Is it really worth it?

 

[Dick Whitman]

I read the Times article, but didn't bother watching the video. Is it really worth it?

It's only like two minutes long, so probably. It's pretty much what is described in the Times article, but it's a fairly jarring social satire on what we've become.

 

[JayFarrar]

I read the Times article, but didn't bother watching the video. Is it really worth it?

It's only like two minutes long, so probably. It's pretty much what is described in the Times article, but it's a fairly jarring social satire on what we've become.

Satire?

Nothing in that video looks out of place. More like a documentary.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Every person buried in a smart phone is one less asshole I have to deal with in person.

Besides, people constantly bitching about smart phone use are WAY more annoying than people constantly using their smart phones.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Every person buried in a smart phone is one less asshole I have to deal with in person.

Not the response I expected from you, my friend ...

Besides, people constantly bitching about smart phone use are WAY more annoying than people constantly using their smart phones.

Ah, there it is!

 

[MisterCreosote]

When surrounded by assholes (as I am), you ALWAYS choose the asshole who ignores you over the asshole who tries to engage you.

 

[BTExpress]

I Forgot My Phone depicts another phenomenon which I don’t understand at all – people are growing more interested in the process of recording and transmitting their life experience – through videos, selfies, and Tweets — on their smartphones than on directly interacting with people just enjoying the experiences and soaking them in.

 

[Versatile]

Forbes column on it: Could you turn off your smart phone for 100 days?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/09/03/can-you-turn-off-your-smartphone-for-the-next-100-days/

This is really bad. I mean, this is one of the worst columns I've read in a while. The writing is that of a Facebook post, perhaps typed out via smart phone. But the content is more repugnant tenfold. He does not consider counterpoints or ramifications at all. Why do you read this crap?

 

[MisterCreosote]

If Interacting With People™ was so great and fulfilling, we wouldn't pump hundreds of billions of dollars annually into things that distract us from it.

 

[Versatile]

**** Whitman, I am concerned about your reading decisions on the Internet. Reading trash like TheAtlantic.com and Forbes.com will lead you further into intellectual trolldom. Consuming New York Times trend stories as gospel will lead to serious misconceptions about culture. You're a smart man surrounded by bad influences.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The birthday celebration scene rings especially true. Every time I've ever seen a Happy Birthday rendition, it's accompanied by multiple people filming and/or taking pictures. Never once have I seen the videos on playback.

 

[MisterCreosote]

We went to a baseball game over the weekend. My wife got up to get some bottles of water, and would've missed an RBI double had I not recorded it on my phone. We also took a selfie.

I'll have to inform her later that we didn't actually have fun at the game because we were too caught up in playing with our technology. She'll be crushed.

 

[Versatile]

The birthday celebration scene rings especially true. Every time I've ever seen a Happy Birthday rendition, it's accompanied by multiple people filming and/or taking pictures. Never once have I seen the videos on playback.

You've seen people holding up cameras while blowing out the candles on their own birthday cakes?

 

[LongTimeListener]

The birthday celebration scene rings especially true. Every time I've ever seen a Happy Birthday rendition, it's accompanied by multiple people filming and/or taking pictures. Never once have I seen the videos on playback.

You've seen people holding up cameras while blowing out the candles on their own birthday cakes?

Not that literally. Talking more about the moms who have to catch every single one of their child's moments as **** is saying.

You're a salty and pedantic one today.

 

[Versatile]

I'm a salty and pedantic one every day. But that was an actual question. You're just thin-skinned from the amount of yelling that goes on here.

I had no problem with the video or The New York Times' article (aside from my regular issue with Times trend stories).

I do find it obnoxious when friends play on their phones all the time, though most of my friends are pretty good about it. I generally don't even take out my phone when with friends, instead checking it on my own and their trips to the bathroom.

 

[MisterCreosote]

It boggles my mind that someone would get upset at parents taking a lot of pictures of their kids.

Actually, no, it doesn't. It's funny in its own pathetic way.