Are We Becoming Zombies?

For several years, my wife and two daughters kept bugging me to upgrade my phone.  I kept saying that I didn’t need to upgrade as my cell phone was working quite fine and reliable.  They kept on insisting that it would be easier for them to contact me, such as sending me text messages. I felt that I didn’t need to be continuously plugged in.

I feel that people are becoming too addicted to their “Smartphones”.  I remember when I was in a Toronto Hospital in 2016.  I was sitting in the small cafe on the first floor having a coffee and watching people outside walking up and down Queen street.  I found it interesting to see that nearly everyone had their heads down looking at their phones.  It appeared that they had no idea where they were going.

Even in our household when we are in the living room having a meal, my wife and daughters would be eating, while looking at something on their phones.  I was missing the times when we would sit and enjoy a common show or movie together during a meal.  Most of the time, whenever something is on the television, I’d be the only one watching, while they were on their individual phones.

There would be times when there would be a temporary power outage and my youngest daughter would be in near panic, because she couldn’t get connected.  

I wanted to record some videos out at our rural property, so the day after Father’s Day in 2022, I finally decided to upgrade my phone to a “Smartphone”.  My family was in complete shock.  Even after the upgrade, I kept insisting that society is far too dependent on their phones and technology in general.  In fact, in many cases it has made people more stupid.

People’s memories have become lazy.  If you ask someone a simple basic question, they often have no clue what the answer is, unless they look it up on their phone.  Many people can’t even do simple basic math in their heads.  For example, if something I was purchasing came to $16.50, I would give the cashier $21.50.  I would do this to reduce the amount of change in my pockets.  Yet in many cases, the cashier would be completely confused by this and insist that I only give them the $20.00.

Even my 12 year old daughter has difficulty with telling time.  Telling her things like, it’s half past 4, or ten to 6, etc. completely messes her up.  She is mainly familiar with digital clocks and not the ones that have the hour and minute hands.

Then there was the nationwide outage with Rogers Communications in Canada on Friday July 8, 2022.  Many people were completely lost without the ability to get connected.  People were going to coffee shops, libraries, in an attempt to get back on line.

It reminded me of that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I Borg.  When the crew brings a Borg crash survivor on board the Enterprise, it is placed in the detention cell.  When the Borg is conscious, it is wandering around the cell trying to find a way to reconnect with the Borg Collective.  Picard mentions “He’s alone.  First time he’s being forced to cope with his environment without the resources of the Collective.”  

The doctor later says an interesting line, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was scared.”  Have we become so dependent on technology, such as the internet and our Smartphones, that we’re completely lost and scared unless we’re plugged into the Collective? 

Technology is great, but we shouldn’t surrender to it to the point where we start losing our independence and wandering around like Zombies.  

Until next time, stay safe, healthy and strong.

If you found the content of this blog beneficial, consider buying us a coffee.  It would be much appreciated. Thank You.