THE truth is smartphones can be harmful and even fatal.
A snake catcher died after trying to kiss a newly caught cobra in India. He died on his third day at the hospital after the venomous asp bit his chest while he was snapping a selfie with it.
His Facebook profile includes several pictures of him playing with snakes and even kissing a cobra.
In another news item, a newly married woman in Canada drowned while photographing herself in her dress with a scenic waterfalls as a backdrop and her feet submerged in the water. Apparently, the dress became saturated with water, leaving her unable to stay above water, police said.
But selfies can cause the death of other things, too. Such as the life of a place or destination. Instead of capturing the essential historic, cultural, religious or picturesque value of the place, what do we do? We pull out our phones and extend them to arm’s length in order to capture our face with the said attraction as a background. Taking in the actual attraction they’ve traveled to see clearly comes second.
Day in and day out, every time my wife opens her FB account, she is assaulted by selfie photos of traveling acquaintances or FB friends. Tourist attractions become props for bragging to friends [or secret enemies.]
The downside is tourists are condemned by priests, arrested by police or worse, get killed for insulting local culture and people, desecrating holy sites or disturbing local nature.
If you’ve been observant like me, smartphones have also been killing the art of face-to-face conversation. Watch a family of four or five in a restaurant. While waiting for their orders to be served, notice how all of them are gazing downward, silently hooked to their respective gadgets. I have observed exactly the same thing with a group of officemates or friends. As one commentator eloquently put it: “Together they were, but so far apart from each other. There they were, but they might as well have been elsewhere.”
Still by way of smartphones, our conversation has shifted to social media. But here, the lingo is becoming more and more toxic and deadly, too. The conversation threads are littered with curses and gutter-language, thanks to new day trolls. Four-letter words have lost their shock value. Civil, polite discussion is dead. Even selfies incite anger and provoke the firing of murderous invectives from those reacting to selfie photos of so-called friends who obviously just want to elicit envy.
Alas, we have to live with the smartphone, the modern-day security blanket. Even if I am a user of social media, I am dismayed to see my children and grandchildren glued to their phones nonstop.
Neurologists point to the culprit: dopamine hit (pleasure) young people get from enjoying their time on their phones. What this means is that if this obsession goes unchecked, in the long term, our children won’t develop the art of subtle, patient, multidimensional appropriate communication.
Should we reconsider all this pervasive technology? No, we can’t stop it, but we can adapt to it and find new ways to put it aside and filter it out.
Some are more positive about it. So many conversations that we might not have had the chance to make face-to-face, we can now easily make using the smartphone. My own wife occasionally uses texting to communicate her innermost feelings to our adult children who on some occasions have behaved disrespectfully or insensitively. She said texting enables her to gather her thoughts and compose her message more clearly and effectively.
The answer obviously is self-control, inner discipline. There’s also a massive need to educate everyone on the more mindful use of social media. The thing is individually and collectively, we need to stop making smartphones take control of our lives.
But having said that, let me look at smartphones from another “mature” perspective. Perhaps, smartphones can be harnessed to enhance the quality of living for seniors like us. Let’s face it: As the population ages, there will be an increased need for devices and gadgets designed with seniors in mind.
This is my beef with smartphone designers. They’re designing for young people. But seniors behave differently. Why not design a type specifically for seniors, with simplicity as the guiding principle? Although consumers are becoming increasingly technologically advanced, for seniors like me, simple design is still of high value. What we really need are toned-down technology tools. Ideally, a combination of carefully selected special features matched with a sleek aesthetic without the superfluous features so attractive to youthful users.
For instance, how about a simple phone with a large display and prominent buttons in which sound is amplified, and it features a one-button emergency response feature.
Consider also a simple smart-phone application or a mobile gadget that enables more convenient communication, primarily for homebound old folks to be able to connect with their loved ones faster on a 24-hour basis. It should be for those who are not tech savvy, something they don’t have to worry about passwords or many different fees from different providers.
Imagine a grandfather able to do a video chat with his son in LA, e-mail people, communicate with members of his family, send real-time photos of what is happening.
Since every senior has all sorts of medical issues, why not a smartphone application that makes medical monitoring more convenient and efficient, and helps the family or nurse keep a close watch on the elderly person who uses it. Ideally, it should have apps that keep track of medication times, monitor motion and sound. It should enable seniors to send and receive text messages and with features that automatically trigger a personal emergency response system.
The worst nightmare of any senior is to have a medical crisis while being alone at home or in the car or a remote place out of the reach of family and friends. So how about an SOS application or feature that is connected to a medical emergency outfit. The senior citizen cell phone. Some sort of a panic button that can be preprogrammed for emergency calls and text messages. Hit the panic button and the phone sounds a loud warning and broadcasts messages to the designated phone number of a medical emergency outfit. In addition to big buttons and most standard cel-lphone features.
Maybe, smartphones can be designed to help seniors do brain or mental exercises while resting at home. Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, have learned that when senior citizens search the Internet, parts of the brain used for decision-making and complex reasoning are stimulated. Brain function improves.
I can go on and on but I am not techno savvy. For whatever they’re worth, I just leave these ideas to smartphone designers and makers who are smart-minded and caring enough to able to see bright opportunities from the needs of seniors.
My advice to telecom companies: Harness the power of the smartphone to be a real and enabling factor for social good. A marvelous techno-hero in the lives of people like me.
Shift your focus your attention on this neglected 10 million senior market who can use smartphones to get them connected to people they need on 24/7 basis, or any new mobile device that can make their lives more enjoyable and productive, and not more confusing or complicated as it is.
While I am dismayed or cautious of the dark side of smart-phones, I believe in embracing change and employing it to make life more meaningful. That’s the real “dopamine hit” I want seniors to enjoy.