I came across this article and it got me to thinking. How much has my phone come between me and those I most care for? How often has my phone kept me from experiencing a meaningful conversation with someone who was struggling with life and in need of having someone to talk to? How much has technology made us unsociable?
Take Away Your Phone and What Is Left?
A Photographer’s Disturbing Picture
Five years ago, photographer Eric Pickersgill and his wife, Angie, were lying in bed, backs turned to one another, looking at their phones. When Pickersgill dozed off, his phone slid from his hand and hit the floor. The sound jolted him awake.
As he told the BBC, he saw the scene from the perspective of the ceiling fan in his mind’s eye. There he was, hand frozen in the same position, only minus the phone. He and his wife were “so close physically but psychologically and emotionally so separated from one another.”
This inspired a project that depicts how technology dominates our lives, often to the detriment of our most important relationships. The remarkable series of photographs is called “Removed.” The pictures run between startling and comical.
Fascinating series of photographs and this subject is always thought provoking. It cuts both ways. I like to speak to people and say hello in the street, but most don't hear you now because they have headphones in or are looking down at their phones.
And yet on the flip side, I have a number of friends, particularly widows and widowers, who don't live close enough to talk over coffee regularly but who send me messages on my phone when they are struggling or need help. I can't always be there in person, but I can respond with messages or phone them if needed.
But oh how the phone has made us antisocial in so many ways and obsessed with trivial information. Memes and "liking" posts about social change, for example, isn't actually activism for change, but it can seem like it is.
@casablanca - Thank for your perspective! You are right. There are those times when cell phones are a blessing. We can call just about everybody without paying the high priced long-distance rates associated with landlines. And texting is a quick way to let someone know that you are thinking about them.
I don't know how many times my wife and I have seen couples at restaurants sitting on opposite sides of the table staring at their cell phones.
@30pics4jackiesdiamond - I know that they want to record the moment so that they can look back on it in the future, but they end up missing the actual event.
This was a really interesting take on technology. I think it's true that cell phones have in many ways driven people apart but in many other ways kept them together. I guess it all comes down to how you balance using it. You have to know when to put it away and stop looking at it for a while.
This is such a sad commentary on our society. Yes, technology can be a wonderful tool, but it has morphed into a dictatorial oppressor in many ways.
I used Simon and Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence' for a Song Title challenge entry and found it to be so prophetic when it was done in the 1960s.
"...When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools, " said I, "You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows...."
It goes on to talk about people bowing and praying to the neon god they made ....
@farmreporter - Simon and Garfunkel were two of my favorite artists of the time. Since this song was written and performed about 17 years before cell phones, and as you point out how it fits what we see going on today, I wonder what Paul Simon saw that made him write, "Sounds of Silence"? Was it prophetic or did he see signs of people turning inward back then?
@skipt07 Thanks for posting. I am always shocked when I’m having a special dinner with hubby and see others potentially doing the same only they are out in a lovely place glued to their phones and seemly oblivious to their partner.
My son goes to many concerts. One did not allow cell phones. He said it was the best concert he ever attended. Another friend went to the Grand Ole Opry and kept posting videos. I wanted to tell them to put away their phones!
Magic Boxes (aka Phones) are double edged things. I feel sorry for those who hike the trails in this part of the country (Northern Arizona) and must be talking to someone all the times. Silence and Nature should be a beautiful experience. Love the link, thank you so much for sharing.
@joysabin Was in one of the parks just north of San Fran, sometime in the early 1980's. Grandfather and grandson were sitting along the path, grandfather was trying to get G-son to remove his earplugs and listen to the sounds of nature.
@skipt07 And how many studies have been done that show how tuned out people are. Santa on a unicycle in mid July, going past some of the textters that never notice a thing.
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And yet on the flip side, I have a number of friends, particularly widows and widowers, who don't live close enough to talk over coffee regularly but who send me messages on my phone when they are struggling or need help. I can't always be there in person, but I can respond with messages or phone them if needed.
But oh how the phone has made us antisocial in so many ways and obsessed with trivial information. Memes and "liking" posts about social change, for example, isn't actually activism for change, but it can seem like it is.
Certainly a very thought provoking subject, Skip.
I don't know how many times my wife and I have seen couples at restaurants sitting on opposite sides of the table staring at their cell phones.
I used Simon and Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence' for a Song Title challenge entry and found it to be so prophetic when it was done in the 1960s.
"...When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools, " said I, "You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows...."
It goes on to talk about people bowing and praying to the neon god they made ....
@skipt07 And how many studies have been done that show how tuned out people are. Santa on a unicycle in mid July, going past some of the textters that never notice a thing.