Thursday 29/07/15
Smartphones have their uses, but people are relying on them perhaps a little too much. Recently I had the dubious pleasure of sharing a crowded waiting room with several dozen people for an extended period of time. Other than having to wait to be served, the one unifying detail shared by all of these people was the way they used their smartphone.
Without exception, each person took a seat then became completely engrossed in their smartphone. Being self-reliant and providing your own entertainment is a good thing, but not at the expense of your situational awareness.
Over the next hour two persons of questionable character entered the premises, meandered through the crowd, then found seats among the crowd. Each one pretended to be looking at their own smartphone while they were observing the other people in the room. Both of these unsavoury characters paid particular attention to people with big open bags; especially if they were elderly or had small children.
Yes, I have a smartphone too; but I use mine as a prop so I blend into the crowd. After a few minutes of observing what their behaviour, I made it obvious that I’d been watching the room and was aware of their intentions.
Both of these unpleasant people suddenly remembered other appointments they had to attend, and quickly left the room.
I’m not sure which was more disturbing about this scenario:
- Everyone was so engrossed in their smartphone that they failed to notice two undesirables had entered the room.
- Or that they hadn’t noticed they were being observed.
- Because people were so distracted the predators were confident they would get away with what they were planning.
- Or how close some of these people were to becoming another crime statistic.
I also saw two small children who wandered away from their parents, simply because their parents weren’t actually watching them.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use your smartphone for entertainment purposes, but please don’t become so engrossed in it that you are blind to what’s happening around you.