You might have heard the term before but for me it was a new word when I heard it explained on BBC Radio 4 yesterday. It's "phubbing" - a clever conflation of "phoning" and "snubbing". "Phubbing" happens all the time when phone users ignore the people they are with in real life in favour of their phones.
Perhaps one should not blame phone users as much as we should blame the phone manufacturers and network providers. They have created an environment in which millions of people are hooked on their smartphones. For some, it is where their "best lives" reside - in favoured YouTube channels, whatsapp groups, social media and so on. All of that can, I imagine, be very comforting and less challenging than living entirely in the real world.
When Shirley and I were in Newbury, Berkshire we went to a high street eatery. Sitting upstairs in the mezzanine area, I noticed a family of six coming up the stairs. The children were teenagers. They sat at a big table near to us and checked out the menu.
After their orders were placed with the affable waitress, they did not interact as happy families used to do. Instead, all six got out their smartphones and were soon tapping away, chuckling or goggle-eyed as they studied their little screens. This went on for twenty minutes until their food orders arrived. It was as if they were drugged or hypnotised.
I myself have sometimes been a victim of phubbing. Since Shirley acquired her first smartphone she has become more and more enamoured with it and when walking in the countryside with my friend Tony, several natural conversations have been interrupted by his phone. I always feel like saying, "No! Don't answer that frigging thing. You are talking to me!"
Phubbing is yet more proof that this is a mad world. Before I leave this topic, I have a couple of side concerns to share.
All over the planet people are charging their smartphones - often daily or nightly. That's a hell of a lot of electricity being drained from our tired planet. Aren't we supposed to be conserving our resources?
Secondly, why must smartphones be continuously replaced? Manufacturing them is another huge drain on our planet's finite resources. I guess that the prime reason is to keep profits rolling in for smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung. It's a "live for today and forget about tomorrow" business model. "Screw The Earth" should probably be their shared motto.
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