Cell Phone Zombies

[cooldude]

Any of you guys ever seen a "cell phone zombie"?

You can tell who they are right away. They spend all day wih thier head down, staring stupidly at thier cell phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTduyvT8zoM

The whole world is going on around them, but they wouldnt know. They are oblivious to everything around them. Its more than annoying. Its pathetic really.

And some of them drive like that!  

[RallyeMike]

People are so busy capturing and sharing the mundane details of their lives they are missing out on the real thing. I don't get it, but I imagine it's similar to what old timers thought when TVs invaded every home.... "why the hell would you want to sit around and watch that garbage?!"

I will happily live the rest of my life without ever having a smart phone. I hardly even have my flip phone turned on.

[Ryan.C]

People are so busy capturing and sharing the mundane details of their lives they are missing out on the real thing. I don't get it, but I imagine it's similar to what old timers thought when TVs invaded every home.... "why the hell would you want to sit around and watch that garbage?!"

I will happily live the rest of my life without ever having a smart phone. I hardly even have my flip phone turned on.

agreed

[JB400]

Didn't get a smart phone until just recently.  I ended up turning most of the features off.  Why anyone would want something like this, I don't know.  Waste of time and money.  Only reason I got one was to talk to the boss, which I don't have to worry about anymore.

[Lighthorseman]

I'm not sure the other LEOs out there will have the same experience, but in my area, we 're dealing with more deaths due to distracted driving than impaired driving.  So many times, the cellphone is in the driver's lap, with a half-completed text-message onscreen.

[Kern Dog]

I remember when personal computers were getting popular in the late 80s. One of the companies ads touted how these devices can "Bring people together". 
Holy crap...They may have done that to some amount but they also have allowed introverts to sink deeper into their holes away from society. Ever met a Software developer? Ever met an "Extreme Gamer"?? Some of these people are so pale and fat from rarely ever going outdoors to do anything. These introverts are lacking in social skills and freak out when things don't go their way.
I do not follow ANY social networks aside from a few car forums.
I have heard people say how someone they know online posts about the coffee they had that morning or how the boss made them stay late.... Does anyone really give a crap about that stuff??? Okay, maybe their shallow online friends will "Like" a comment just so the OP will "Like" theirs later.
It happens on car forums too. Some guy will post....."I changed the oil today..." Really? Who cares? Get back to me when there is something unusual, funny or tragic that happens while changing the oil.

We are in an era where there is no "real" tragedy to band together. The military fights for us in far off lands that most of us will never see in person. Hunger is not as serious here as it is elsewhere. I certainly am not anorexic. Poverty is real but so is FREE government help for the really needy. Since we have no big struggle, we occupy our time with distractions that 3rd world countries have never heard about.

Yes...Cellphone Zombies are a pathetic eyesore. What in the hell is so damn interesting or important???  What is wrong with walking and enjoying the scenery or talking with the person next to you?  Are these Zombies a byproduct of an overstimulated society with 24 hour news channels, 500 cable TV channels and all night fast food restaurants ??

[XH29N0G]

OUCH     I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

[Lighthorseman]

......OUCH    I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

[alfaitalia]

I'm not sure the other LEOs out there will have the same experience, but in my area, we 're dealing with more deaths due to distracted driving than impaired driving.  So many times, the cellphone is in the driver's lap, with a half-completed text-message onscreen.

Here the Police are clamping down hard on using mobiles (ok...cells!) at the wheel. It's always been illegal but the fine just doubled to £200 (about $160) and 6 points on your licence. If you get 12 within three years you lose you licence for a year. Speeding is only usually 3 points so you can see they mean business. What triggered the clamp down was a texting trucker who killed a whole family when he ploughed into a stationary queue of traffic.


That said I would not be without it..although I don't walk along the street looking at it. It's just too useful. Web access when out and about without having to carry a big in tablet around is very useful...not to mention I have my Charger and Mercedes FSM on it and Torque diagnostic software (the OBD adapter is always with me...just in case!).

Also if my wife texts it probably means I don't have to actually talk to her...lol.

[dual fours]

OUCH     I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

Stupid car!

[dual fours]

Yes...Cellphone Zombies are a pathetic eyesore.

Wait till they start to reproduce.

[tan top]

Any of you guys ever seen a "cell phone zombie"?

You can tell who they are right away. They spend all day wih thier head down, staring stupidly at thier cell phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTduyvT8zoM

The whole world is going on around them, but they wouldnt know. They are oblivious to everything around them. Its more than annoying. Its pathetic really.

And some of them drive like that!  

yep about right for that certain  generation     been saying this for the last 5 or so years , think the world is going to end up like the silvester stallone film  demolition man    ....  don't think its  that far off now  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZqM2sAX91M

[Lighthorseman]

Cannot recall the name, but there was a pretty funny movie whose premise was that the dumbest guy on the planet got transported to the future...where he was a comparative genius, as society had dumbed down SO much that he was the smartest guy on the planet.

Wish I could remember the name of the movie.  

[XH29N0G]

I remember the plot too, but also can't remember the name of the movie.

That's not a good sign.

Oh I know, I'll ask my phone.....

Just did?  And I got idiocracy.. Wow these things are great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Dino]

I remember the plot too, but also can't remember the name of the movie.

That's not a good sign.

Oh I know, I'll ask my phone.....

Just did?  And I got idiocracy.. Wow these things are great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Kern Dog]

I think about this stuff often. The stupid seem to breed much more and faster than the smart people do. Todays average person may know how to use a computer and a cell phone but cannot fix a car, change a tire, fix a refrigerator, mow a lawn, build a doghouse or cook. The smartest of society are probably smarter than any person from the past buy THEY are not the ones that reproduce the most. The stupid are reproducing at a faster rate.
On average, the people are getting dumber and less self reliant. A person from the 1800s would survive a catastrophe far better than any person today.
Evolution? How about DEvolution.

[XH29N0G]

I have heard that argued before, but I don't think it is that dire. 

I'm in a line of work where I see a swath of smart kids.  I meet very smart people who were: the first in their family; the kids of immigrants; from poor families and the key is opportunity. As a society, I don't think we are anywhere near running out of smarts or breeding ourselves into dumbness.

The key is opportunity for people to pull themselves up and succeed.  Education (not just talking book smarts, but business smarts, and the types of do-smarts that were just described) are what allow us to do that.  I am still very optimistic about people's prospects. 

[Dino]

 

What he said!   

[alfaitalia]

I consider myself to be a rather better than average home mechanic (complete engine rebuild, tuning, bodywork....Ill do it all to standard that most would be happy with (not most on here I would guess!!))....I worked in the motor industry for nearly 20 years but only about 12 months of that was on the wrenches....I wanted more cash....so moved into car sales! However I learnt my "skills" myself......and the main reason I did it was because I was always broke as a kid and I lived out in the sticks so even getting a broken car or motorcycle to a garage was a problem. Its amazing what you can learn if not fixing your car means not getting into town to meet girls at the weekend!! But lack of cash to pay others to fix it was the main reason. Lots of kids now are heavily backed by their parents...too much IMO..."my cars broken dad...will you pay for the garage to fix it? ...Of course son"...where is the need to learn how to fix it yourself there? My dad would show me what to do....but that's it. If I could not fix it or afford the parts.....then I didn't drive it! I guess a lot of the basic servicing I learnt without even realising it after all the times I watched dad service his old motors....they were old back then!
So yes there are bright kids out there.....but we make life too easy for them so they don't bother to learn the sort of stuff I love doing today. Nothing more satisfying than hearing that motor fire up that a so called expert had said was past repair....or seeing that bead of welding go perfect...at only the tenth attempt!!

[dyslexic teddybear]

JMO....perhaps many are confusing lazy with being dumb. I see many, many examples of younger people in entry level jobs, and doing all sorts of outdoor activities that require effort...without a phone glued to a hand.

Every person I see with a phone glued to a hand seems .....just lazy. Too lazy to bother with a real life.

Driving.....a bit different....I see all ages being careless.....and a lot of stupid. Modern cars can almost drive themselves......so now we have ads with smiling people showing how enjoyable and safe it is to depend on your car to stop so you can do other important stuff instead of driving....as you drive.

Yet law enforcement constantly talk about how big a problem distracted driving is......at the same time above mentioned ads promote.....driving without paying attention. The dumbest part.....we are teaching people to do it.

[cooldude]

I have heard that argued before, but I don't think it is that dire.  

I'm in a line of work where I see a swath of smart kids.  I meet very smart people who were: the first in their family; the kids of immigrants; from poor families and the key is opportunity. As a society, I don't think we are anywhere near running out of smarts or breeding ourselves into dumbness.

The key is opportunity for people to pull themselves up and succeed.  Education (not just talking book smarts, but business smarts, and the types of do-smarts that were just described) are what allow us to do that.  I am still very optimistic about people's prospects.  

I think that modern,  macro, socio-stupidity is a learned trait. Does that make any sense?  

In other words,we are being taught how to become stupid.

[XH29N0G]

Learned stupidity is not a new thing but you are right that cell phones have given me a new way to express it.

When I was 11, it was all about seeing how fast my grandfather's the car could go down my his driveway - at least until he came out and stopped us.  I guess the 4 wheel "o shit" skid marks and torn up back yard might have given us away.  His response?  "Why don't you drive in the pasture instead." 

[cooldude]

That sure was fun stuff wasnt it? Nothing better than tearing up a pasture in a festival of stupidity and horsepower! Yeah, those were the days.   


As for cell phones, I think they attract, and then captivate some people in a way that channels thier infancy. Like a pasifier does to a baby.

What happens when the pacy gets taken away? They cry and pout, and act out tantrums. 


Remember the kids in school, like 1st or 2nd grade, that were always less mature than the rest of the class? Some were still sucking thier thumbs, or dragging around a ratty old security blanket, or so on.

My grandpa even told me of one woman who would come to his school and take her son behind the building at lunch, (1920s) and was still breastfeeding her son, when he was about 8 or 10 years old.

Some people develop slower than others. And the cellphone craze seems to grab on to some people in such a way that takes them right back to infancy.

Its a rather sort of insidious marketing ploy, me thinks.

[XH29N0G]

My son, who is home on spring break, just let loose a tirade.   

Apparently he lost 50% off his grade for being on his cell phone during a presentation.   

Problem is, he says, he was the one giving the presentation. 

He sent the professor a note, and we will see how that turns out.  I hope for the best.   

Come to think of it, they didn't have emoticons when they had landlines 

[ws23rt]

My son, who is home on spring break, just let loose a tirade.   

Apparently he lost 50% off his grade for being on his cell phone during a presentation.   

Problem is, he says, he was the one giving the presentation. 

He sent the professor a note, and we will see how that turns out.  I hope for the best.   

Come to think of it, they didn't have emoticons when they had landlines 

Wow--Did he not have a head's up for his presentation?  Was it an intended trap?

Are we in a transition period where the professors are playing games with our kids.

Our kids will learn what we give them and add it to what they live in life. Talking this stuff out at home is vital.