I got to thinking the other day about life. Not just my life but life in general and how it seems to change on a daily basis. It is worse now than ever it was before namely due to the ability at which the word can be spread throughout the world.There is barely a time lapse for information of an event in say New York City reaching London, or Hong Kong or anywhere else in the world in just the blink of an eye.
In this electronic age of internet and Facebook, there are no secrets as people fall over each other in an attempt to be the first to share the news, any news. In this country, the USA, people are so addicted to their cell phones that I swear they are an extra attachment to their wrist. When I walk around the Supermarket and as I like to do, study the people in front of me, I am amazed at how many times they check their phones walking the length of the store. It is as though they are willing a text or a call to come in just to keep them amused. I can see they are NOT checking a grocery list that some people keep on their phones as that list doesn’t change. If this isn’t bad enough, even more annoying is that person in the checkout line that insists on continuing her conversation even while trying to deal with the check out clerk. How rude is that? Good manners have gone out of the window along with common sense and decency as far as cell phones go.
Maybe it’s because I am old stodgy geezer that is set in my ways but I do worry about where we are heading with all of this technology available to the world. If people are already so connected to their cell phones, what it to prevent a “Big Brother” from sending subtle messages of unrest or something similar?
In a way, it is already happening. I am a creature of habit one of which is to take a drive late in the afternoon and head for the grocery store. Then I generally buy a Latte from the Starbucks next door and take a drive listening to the current Audiobook before heading home. I always know when it is time for me to head out the door as a message appears on my phone around the time I leave, telling me that the traffic is light and it will take me 15 minutes to reach my favorite HEB store! This is before I even leave the house. I certainly do not send the message to myself and it is not coming from one of my friends but someone or something is certainly keeping an eye on my actions. It’s kinda scary in a way as what else is being compiled of my everyday actions and habits? As I said before, I am an old geezer and hardly a threat to anyone. I am not involved in any illicit actions that I know of and have no know vices. Hell, I am even too bloody old to appreciate beautiful women when I see them.
What if by chance, I was a double agent or a drug runner or any of the things that one would normally associate with being kept under close scrutiny. Is the scary message that I receive also watching those sort of people from afar compiling proof of some sort of wrongdoing, waiting for the moment to send in the SWAT team or the FBI? How many other people have the same thoughts as I do and just how secret are our lives? I guess we shall never know as the word here is secret.What people don’t know about, the less it concerns them.
As for me, I am going to change my habits and start my routines in the morning at a totally different time. See if I am afraid of Big Brother…
Written 8/24/2018
It’s the ones staring down at their cell-phones as they drive that scare me! They are sad death machines!
That is another of Big Brothers tricks regardless of the outcome. They are hooked…
I don’t know about other people in the grocery but I check the grocery list on my phone frequently because I’m erasing the items as I find them. The nice thing about that list is that once you’re familiar with a store you can put items in order so there’s no backtracking.
I have a list too but mine is the old fashioned kind, a piece of paper with the list written in ink. I don’t mind backtracking as it means extra walking and exercise.
I feel there is a phone addiction, too. I, however, can walk around without checking it, but maybe not at the supermarket. I sometimes put my grocery list on my phone because you don’t know how many times I have written one (which I prefer) and left it on the counter – so my lists changes for each visit. Or sometimes I am asking my husband what he needs (in regards to groceries). Oh . . . . and also . . . . when I am standing in line, in order to wait “patiently” I might look at my phone and check Facebook, or continue texting to my husband.
Regarding being watched and listened to, I think, for now, it is primarily for advertising purposes, but IF there is a suspicion of something “they” can tap into things to get proof. And one these days “they” will use it all in ways that will shock people.
Everyone has their habits regarding cell phones. I have seen kids in the store that are carrying their phones because they don’t have any pockets big enough. Grown ups too. Gotta have those phones with them…
You are right! We all have “phone habits”. And a lot of is is just HABIT. Sometimes I pick up my phone and go to look at it and wonder why . . . it is just a habit!