The mobile phone

No racing, no race reports for a while. The writing habit took a back seat and is now clearly rusty. The procrastination ensued, thanks to the only tool at my disposal, or lack thereof. The mobile phone. I know, I know. A bad worker blames his tools. So, here's some yakking quite unrelated to running.

It just so happened that I moved back to the mountains when the pandemic struck. Away from civilization, distancing myself from meaningless stimuli such as news and rumors thanks to unprecedented happenings. Mainly to focus on my training and improve holistically. The phone would be lying in some corner, gathering dust, untouched. Disturbed only to turn off the alarm or speak to family on that occasional call. It's not that my brain was not absorbing inputs. I saw the most picturesque sunrises, was in life-threatening situations, learnt utility skills using my hands etc. etc. One major difference being my visual faculties did not veer towards the phone ever so often. Not my old black and white Nokia. That served me well like an obedient dog. Still does, primarily.

So henceforth, by phones, I'm referring to internet-enabled smartphones.

On introspection, some noteworthy observations are etched in my mind.

Phones seemingly take away our private time and our ability to be self-sufficient, promoting a need, rather infantile kind of dependence on the chattering of others. They also drain us of our strength to make a definite decision, to commit to anything pucca. The domination of this technology is one that keeps us childlike in many subtle ways. I want it, I want it, I waa..

Today we carry a super computer in our pockets. Agreed, the pros are omnipresent. That's a discussion for another day. But as humans, rarely do we have meaningful conversations. Ones bearing intellectual debth. Insightful, thought-provoking, philosophical give and take? A connection under the stars, by the bonfire - raw, agenda-less, heart to heart. Where have those times gone?

Now, to connect at that strata, rarely do we sense the need to put in efforts. Why? Just pick up the phone and move your thumb na?

A welcome change is that this distraction is no longer my master. I do it the old way, and make an arrangement to meet someone at a certain place, say, at 7 o’clock, and have done with it. Once you’ve agreed to meet, just go be there. It’s ain't hard. 

Wru? Oh, traffic is terrible. Inclement weather. Send your location. Make it live location. Ugh, Just SHOW UP!

Bluffing - it's so easy to pull off. Since distance is always maintained, there is an invisible, often subconscious safety assurance holding this device in front of our eyes or to the ears. Oh, anything can be said. Tonality can be easily manipulated. So different from look-into-my-eyes talk. I'm not going to be confronted anyways. For the time being, that's guaranteed.

Coming to roumors, a lot of false information is in your face and innocuously spread. Do we bother to fact check anything? Is it peer reviewed? Is it a random study? What's the sample size? Sources? Citations please.

Oh no, just pass it on. Or click 👍. None the wiser. I'm doing my bit. Consequently, Poof! Our brain gets it's dopamine/serotonin hit.

This culture of narcissism is much prevalent and considered normal even. The proverbial chest thumping. Whether anyone is listening or not. A linchpin of social media.

Its flaws are very visible to me. I don’t see it as my lifeline. It is a conduit for communication. Perhaps a supplement. Obviously not a substitute.

On the subway, in the street and cinema, at the table, in the bathroom, in bed and even in places of worship.. phones appear everywhere. And everyone has it – today you would seem crazy not to have it – few dare to admit it: the mobile phone is a real curse. Easily accepted and little debated.

Above all, I always reminisce how people lived before this technology unfurled. Knowing what it was like: they knew every nuance of boredom, the ability to deal with themselves, to be creative in the thoughts or just to get stuck with the interest on a passerby. Name/place/animal/thing. Wait, wasn't that a game of yesteryear?

Ps: I'm dating myself in internet technology years. Aah, those days were good.

Smartphone, the distractor of the twenty first century (by the way, auto-correct insists on changing “distractor” into “destroyer”). Distractor from any life (no matter how boring or unpleasant it may be) that is happening at that specific moment. Whether it’s the daily commute, on the metro, or a moment of solitude in the elements. Not that in the past (and still today fortunately) there were no newspapers or books or walkmans to fulfill this task, but we can perfectly see how “sense-dulling” phones are, compared to music or books. With music we keep looking at each other, with books you can still communicate in an indirect way. However the obstinacy with which the nose is now pointed downwards, on a small screen, is a bit bleak.

The point is that cellphones are able to “soothe” a wound immediately – time to distraction! It’s a wound that all human beings more or less feel, for the simple fact of being, each one, unique in the world. That is actual solitude. And it is when you must compulsively chat with someone, and someone will always answer you – because in the end it doesn’t matter who answers you, as long as someone does it - known or unknown. That is already sufficient to feel immediately relieved. Remember dopamine/serotonin?

But if paradoxically we never see these “others”, always preferring to call or text them, we would never register any of their reactions to what we say. We would never know what it means to insult someone, for example. Or show devotion. It had to be a means of communication, instead it is a means of distraction with respect to what we are experiencing directly, which provides a series of other subtle changes that have an effect on our reality – phones make us latecomers, make us forget the roads and weakens our orientation. We don’t even need to remember numbers or notions, there is so much on Wikipedia. Out of phase, forgetful, lost? All the while phones become smarter..

Owning a bat does not necessarily make one a good batsman, like wise having a smartphone.. you catch my drift.

Earlier, a lot of efforts were required to being a do-er. 

Now, being a say-er is enough. Rant away blah blah. There are always new bakras (akin the readership of our leading tabloid). That's what phones have made us. The phone is getting smarter, seldom the human. Artificial intelligence anyone?

Not to forget the read receipt concept i.e. the feedback on whether someone has opened the message or not. That was not possible in snail mail. We relied on hope.

It's all about choices in actions, put simply. These occasional disturbances are far outweighed by the fact I’m left unmolested, able to think, and to be quiet, if I feel like it, finally the master of my own mental landscape again.

I can't quote verbatim but I've heard these profundities and they ring a bell. Thanks A.G. Bell(Pardon the puns). 

Be quiet, unless what you have to say is better than silence.

Even better. Shut your mouth and let people wonder if you are a fool or open it and remove all doubts.