Are users of mobile phones becoming ignorant of others?
Most people in the UK have at one or more mobile phones and they are great – no longer do they just make and receive telephone calls, send and receive text messages but are used as still cameras, video cameras, you can play games, on mine I even have an app connected to a home security camera so I can remotely view and some even have apps to use your phone as a remote control for your television! But are they becoming all too important in people’s lives? I think yes and they are making people ignorant.
Today I had to go in to town and always walk, which is just over 2 miles, and the amount of people using their phones with complete disregard for other pedestrians on that stretch of walk was staggering! Mobile phone use is banned while driving and some people need to banned from using while walking! If there is ever a case about dangerous walking it will because of an ignorant mobile user.
On my walk to and from town I had people staggering across the path causing a nuisance to others, crossing the road while staring at the screen, one woman pushed her pushchair right across my path and stopped while continuing to text (while I actually apologised for nearly walking into her pushchair that she pushed in front of me!), completely oblivious to the fact she was blocking the path and people nearly bumped into her and her child, but my favourite was on my way home, a man was walking towards me playing on his phone in one hand while holding his dog’s lead in the same hand and a box of fried chicken and chips in the other – needless to say he wasn’t paying attention and he dropped his lunch. Fair enough he wasn’t paying attention and was clumsy, deal with it! No he stood there and started shouting at his dog saying it was his fault, the useless mutt, while continuing to pick up his chicken pieces off the wet ground to continue eating! How he could blame his dog that was just walking beside him was beyond belief, all because he was more interested in what was on his phone. It probably didn’t help that I couldn’t stop myself laughing at him (not his dog) while his dog just sat there (if dogs can laugh I bet he was nearly in tears with laughter). But then I guess it’s easier to blame someone or something else than admit you’re to blame.
People these days are living their entire lives on these phones and at the ring or a beep everything else becomes unimportant and the phone takes over and that 4” screen rules your life to the point of ignorance. If you really feel the need to use your phone with out and about at least have the decency to step to one side and let other pedestrians continue about their day. Whatever it is you feel the need to update your social media pages there and then isn’t that important and can wait a few seconds to get out of other people’s way, the world doesn’t revolve around you and your phone.
I find people a lot ruder these days and have a lack of manners and respect for others and mobile phones are making it worse. But that’s my rant over and just my personal opinion.
What I find ignorant is people who do not answer their phone, even though they just sent you a text message. Rather than clear up an issue within seconds, they prefer to write essay-long texts, which is inefficient and stupid.
Aside from this, as you say, people who are not paying attention to what they are doing because of being hypnotized by what they see (or do not see) on a screen. When they hear a bell, they begin to salivate.
Cell-phones bring out this disease in mankind.