It feels like being in a scene from They Live where you just want to shake people awake, but it would be a totally futile effort.

I agree. This phenomenon is both sad and scary. And it affects all age groups too. When I’m outside making similar observations as the man in the video, I see people of all ages on their phones, from toddlers to the elderly.

I've recently taken to switching my phone off for hours at a time while I'm out. It was a bit weird, at first, but then it started to seem normal again. It's easy to not realise what's happening. Our brains have been hijacked.

I made it a conscious effort years ago to remain off my phone when I'm out, especially with other people. It disgusts me a little nowadays, like a 500lb glutton who can't stop eating. So addicted they can't put the shit down for 5 minutes to live in the moment.

I don’t take my phone with me when I go out for a run or walk. And when going to the supermarket, I often leave my phone in the car. If it feels weird, and if you’re old enough, it helps to try and remember what it was like in old days before smartphones or any cell phones.

I made a similar effort too and after doing so, people who are constantly on their phones when in the company of others started to be really obvious and frustrating.

I'm on my phone right now. You know the sad part is that majority of these people are scrolling social media, not communicating etc. Like 10 years ago everyone was on their phones but half of them were texting or messaging each other. Now literally just scrolling, most of these people don't even comment on the tiktok/Instagram videos they're scrolling past, just like scroll like scroll mindlessly.

The average person is a junkie. Phone, alcohol, sugar, whatever your preference of all of them. Takes a lot of effort and discipline to go against the grain in search of improvement.

Glad I'm not like this, unless I'm taking a photo it stays in my pocket when I'm out and about. I like being aware of my surroundings. View quoted note →

It kinda reminds me of when you see old photos from the 70s or earlier and every single person is smoking a cigarette. Phones replaced cigarettes.

I'm on mine too 😵‍💫

The zombie pandemic predicted by Nostradamus.

That's what I've been doing, thinking about the first 18 years of my life and how easy it was to not be permanently connected. It was novel, at first, getting that early PAYG mobile, but no one really considered the implications. Now 28 years later, I'm finding I really enjoy being disconnected and people look at you shocked when you tell them you switched off and just got on with your day... "What did you do all day though...?" "What I went out to do".

Exactly right. The apps are a serious problem because they are entirely hijacking our awareness. It sounds hyperbolic but I think it's obviously a serious crisis that people don't seem to understand the gravity of.

The fact none of them even notice the guy was filming them, even the ones that looked up at him as he was talking walking past them didn't actually pay any attention to him, like they were just looking up to avoid walking into him. Its actually scary

Airplane mode and FORGET IT. Discipline wins. Embrace life, it is Holy. Deifying technology is sin.

I´ve always thought that you should do things different than the crowd. Says me, on my linux laptop scrolling nostr

There's a fair difference between being on your phone while travelling and being out and about. It's because these devices and the social apps are engineered to be addictive

There's a non-zero chance that you happened upon an event taking place within a GPS based mobile app video game. As an example, the popular game series Pokemon has a game called Pokemon Go that has "Community Days" where 1 specific type of pokemon shows up at all of the spawn points. People often flock to local parks such as the one shown in the video. 10 years ago when that game came out, a lot of people reacted this way to seeing the masses of people all on their phones not paying attention to reality around them. I would be curious to see if what you observed occurs on Wednesday nights at 7PM, Monday afternoons at 1PM, Friday mornings at 8AM, etc. The Community Days tend to happen on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.