Ladies and Gents, we are in the middle of an epidemic.
It involves the use of a thumb and a mobile phone. People doing this will walk into you whilst in a trance that is hard to shake off.
This happened to me only the other day in the supermarket. A bloke was walking along, mentally stuck inside his phone. His body was present but his consciousness was stuck inside a slab of glass. I had to move out of his way rather than knock him down with a shoulder barge (lol)
Zombies controlled by tech will even go training in the gym and sit there in between low energy sets with their neck in a downwards position, scrolling uncontrollably on apps including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok…
I see friends together training and both looking at their own phones at the SAME TIME. Even in company they are checking their phones, it’s absolutely insane.
While I’m busting my ass for a solid hour, they are chillaxing in a zombie like state, checking their phones with zero willpower or self restraint. I’ve seen more energy unleashed by someone plumping up a cushion.
I actually don’t even know why half of them are in the gym. They’d be better off at home shovelling cornish pasties into their faces, to be honest with you. I’m just saying it how it is.
I wonder if they check their phones while they’re having sex as well. My betting is half of them do.
“Hold on, I’m sorry, do you mind if we take time out,Β I’ve just got to see if I missed any shite that may appear on my phone”
*5 minutes later*
“Where were we? Tik Tok? Facebook? YouTube? God sorry, yes… sex wasn’t it”
They even go on treadmills doing this (doom scrolling I mean, not sex – that would just be weird and undoubtably a membership deal-breaker). While I’m running like Forrest Gump on crack, they are strolling away, checking their phone for the next consumer driven fix.
A few weeks ago a Chinese guy was on the treadmill to the left of me looking at his phone. All of a sudden he flew off the treadmill backwards like a bad version of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk.
I asked him if he was okay but he said something back to me in Chinese (at least I assume it was Chinese), which I didn’t understand, so I just agreed with him. For all I know I was agreeing to getting a takeaway with him later – who knows.
Consume. Consume. Consume.
Too many consumers, not enough creators. Yes my friend, there is an imbalance between the two and it’s not going to change anytime soon because all I see around me are a bunch of zombies.
What’s that coming over the hill, is it a monster?
Young people, that should be full of energy, look like they have about as much fire in their furnace as a decommissioned steam locomotive.
Not much then. I actually think in gyms they should ban phones altogether.
I’d be the one going around smashing them to bits with a hammer (everyone has to have a fantasy and that one is mine ha ha)
In the 90’s nobody needed a phone. In the 00’s people used them but mainly just to send text messages (which in the world of Dean was the sweet spot). Now nobody can go a minute without one because we might fucking miss something (oh the irony).
Humans don’t know what’s best for them, because laziness and convenience wins. If you disagree with this in any way, shape or form, ask yourself why Amazon won in the land of eCommerce and why you order from them. Yes I see you with your Prime membership, I’ve got one as well. I’m not immune.
All the things in life worth having or doing are hard. The reward comes from what is hard, not what is easy.
Most people do not understand this, they go easy on themselves all the time, checking their phones even when they should be exerting themselves. People want chocolate but they need vegetables, if you see what I’m saying.
The tech companies want you to be engaged in all of this crap so they can keep you on the sites longer serving you ads.
Ads = Revenue.
Google is based around serving you ads. Nearly everything is these days.
Facebook – Ads
YouTube – Ads
Google – Ads
People/companies pay for ads. Tech companies that own the platforms make money by the barrow load.
The CEO buys an island and drinks pina colada grinning his/her tits off in the sunshine.
You buy a jacket you didn’t really want until you saw the ad.
You get your buttons pressed with emotions driven by an algorithm that wants you to feel that way.
So you feel something, but what do you do with it? You type shit on the platform adding to the mass of comments where everyone thinks their opinion is worth something. The hoi polloi all get together, typing comments, helping to build a platform run by a billionaire.
The board laugh fiendishly at how ‘sticky’ their creation is and how well the algorithm keeps them there.
“We can sell even more ads and charge more”, they cheer as they chink champagne glasses together jubilantly.
Do you get it?
It gets worse though, because while your head is down, scrolling away, you actually don’t feel great. You may have noticed this and there are scientific reasons as to why which I will not go into here.
Please, for the love of god, spend at least 1 hour a day where you aren’t lost inside your phone, scrolling away on shitty apps.
I want that for you. I want that for all of us. Don’t let THEM win.
Thanks for reading, see you in the next one.
Let’s play this one out with Dirty Cash (Money Talks) by Stevie V