I took the MRT today. I was on my way home, it was kinda crowded. The lady standing beside me was playing some kinda game on her iPhone. The teenager standing in front of me was busy texting someone, with a few occasional smiles as she texted. The man standing on my left was so engrossed in some movie shown over that small screen on his mobile phone that he did not even look up for a second throughout my ride in that MRT cabin. As I looked at those commuters who were sitting down, I noticed that eight out of ten of them were looking at their mobile phones. ...No conversations, no noise...no expressions... In my mind, I was kinda amazed by the wonders of technology but...
"There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song (unless the computer is programmed to produce electronic tweets), no connection with soil, water, sunlight, warmth, the actual learning environment is almost autistic in quality, impoverished sensually, emotionally and socially." ~ John Davy
No, I did not take out my mobile phone throughout the whole ride home. Watching those commuters around me was enough to occupy my time. However, I felt I did not like to be in the cabin for long for the whole atmosphere seemed so still, monotonous and lifeless. Well, silly gal, what do you expect? ...Maybe I should take a good long walk in a garden soon :)
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