Just look at the view

I know I’m not imagining it.  Each time I travel, there are more phones in front of more people, more practiced frozen selfie faces, more technology getting in between the people and the actual thing.

My friend was constantly pausing and waiting while yet another selfie was taken near him; I just motored through, occasionally bombing or joining in (oh they’re the same thing?). I figure it’s the new occupational hazard.

In Cartagena you could take a horse and cart ride through the breathtakingly beautiful old town, and plenty of people did.

And many used the opportunity of sitting still to catch up on their social media or take another thirty shots of their faces.

Hire a horse and cart and then don’t look up.  I can’t make sense of it.

My friend is addicted to WhatsApp. He doesn’t post much on Facebook and isn’t on insta and this seems to confirm to him he’s not one of them. They’re all individual conversations you see.  I would observe that this is no different – it’s an addiction to staying connected to everyone at all times, never prioritising what’s happening here and now over anything that is happening somewhere else.  I feel phubbed (phone snubbed) often and find myself regularly encouraging him to look up at something amazing that won’t be there in twenty seconds time.

I like the newish feature on my phone which tells me how much time each day I spending on it.  I like it because it horrifies me and shocks me into putting it down, leaving it behind and generally resisting my own stupid need to look at it.

Do more things that make me forget to check my phone: now there’s a plan for 2019.