I've been feeling a lot of negativity towards smartphones as a widespread thing. Every day I spend with the thing in my pocket, charging at my desk while I work, or next to my pillow. More than anything else, this device is present 24/7. Even if the phone isn't in my pocket, my muscles spasm exactly where that phone lies against my thigh. My eyes strain at night to see through the tiny interface, my clumsy fingers jumble text, and my wrists ache from hours of unthinking browsing. An app I don't remember downloading announces at the end of each week that I spend 3-4 hours a day on this device that I never use for work. The buzzing of notifications that I MUST keep an eye on persists even when I have to sleep.
If not my phone, other's phones get in the way of life. Loud pings fill the air with unwelcome noise, the glow of anothers phone at night takes the sleep from my body, and the screens beckon others to tune out from conversations. Driving becomes a stressful task, knowing all too well that an ill timed distraction could end the lives of me and my passengers.
There's a lot about smartphones that bother me at a fundamental level. The hardware has become more and more inaccessible and made with shortening lifespans. The software, made by billionaires wanting to monetize every bit of your lives, is designed using data from casinos and behavioral studies in order to milk every bit of your attention from you. The bright screen batters your eyes as you inevitably use it in bed, and the awkward ergonomics destroy your wrists and fingers more surely than a mouse and keyboard.
All this and yet I'm addicted to this device that keeps me from the things in life I care about most. Not the kind of addiction one would idly joke about, but an actual addiction that guides my idle hands to it without any thought. I hate the smartphone.
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1 month ago
20 Jan 2025 02:54 CET
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