I work on a college campus, where I’m surrounded by students who have never known a world without smartphones.
To occupy myself while walking from car to office, I count people using phones.
Check that. I count people not using phones. It’s easier. Nearly everyone stares at a screen while simultaneously walking. Or skateboarding. Or careening on a standup scooter.
And seldom to talk, that prehistoric, pre-smartphone purpose of phones. Instead, they deploy thumbs across tiny keyboards, sometimes without glancing at their devices.
Evolution gave us opposable thumbs, to our benefit. But it couldn’t have anticipated double-thumb touch typing while walking. Not that I’ve mastered double-thumb touch typing while sitting.
I don’t write to criticize young digital natives. Older folks are no different. For proof, scan cars while stopped in traffic. How many drivers are gripping a phone rather than steering wheel? It’s the stoplight phone trance.
I’m no better, as my iPhone now tells me in a sobering weekly report. My daily average last week: three hours.
Three hours. Every day.
Up 7% from the week before.
Oh my.
I’m with you, Jeff. I”m a one finger typer on my phone.