About a decade ago, people used to actually read. Novels and magazines and newspapers and stuff, and it were those fiddling with their phones that were in the minority. Now everyone is on a smartphone. Talking of which, why are some handsets actually called smartphones? Smartphones are suspicious creatures, just like the name already is. When you read a book, you pause to think about what you just read. Through this reading, you gain the ability to think deeply and to contemplate things. On the contrary, as a result of this new smartphone culture, our attention spans are shrinking, and our brains are turning into soft fodder. The people at the forefront of this new cyber addiction say it is not just games they are playing on their smartphones – they are reading stuff. Like web pages, emails, Facebook updates and tweets and that. According to these people, all these cyber activities count for productive work. All those news alerts you are lifting from celebrity websites and re-tweeting them and sharing them with your Facebook friends is actually work. No, it isn’t. You don’t read a webpage, you scan it. Why? Because there are too many pop up ads, instant cash promotions and bright flashing things, and there’s so much else going on. If one is not being bombarded with manhood enlargement treatments that promise instant results, someone is trying to convince you to “lose weight in three easy steps” or “crush the fat pretty fast” and other such gibberish. Yes, it is gibberish because to command me to “crush my fat reeaaal fast” is already a mockery of my lean frame. When one is not getting angry at spam, they are checking their email, but even better, updating their Facebook status; ‘I just had the best chicken wings with my girls!’ Or tweeting what’s just happened, “Who’s been outside today? It’s raining. #Lol.” All you are trying to say, really, is, ‘Look at me, Look at me, Look at me!’ The bitter reality though, is that hardly anybody is looking, unless, of course you’re naked, famous, or succeeded in doing something really stupid. As a result, our attention spans are diminishing so fast that soon enough they’ll be down to twenty seconds, and we will be a society of loose canons: Seemingly happy in our modern office or apartment, constantly jotting meaningless words into cyberspace. Put down the phone, and pick up a book. You might just become interested by something that isn’t your friend’s latest crush, a cute baby, or Kim Kardarshian. Who knows, that something might even have some artistic value and enrich you. You know what happens if you don’t check your email/Facebook/Twitter for a whole hour? Or a day? You know what you will have missed? Absolutely nothing!
