Go Flip Yourself.

Since kids go to school only in the morning on Wednesdays, my routine is to drop them off and then head to a nice coffee shop in the neighborhood before picking them up and heading back home to have lunch. I really like spending some time observing people in the coffee. And everytime, I'm quite disturbed by the omnipresence of our smartphones.

Typically yesterday, due to noise that was bothering me and a few loud discussions I didn't want to follow, I took out the earpods and started listening to music. While doing it, I realised how I was [intentionally in that case] disconnecting myself from the surroundings. I was putting myself in a 'physical bubble'.

While doing so I was reflecting on a the post I just published; and a few lines I wrote in What matters most to you? like: "When we're eating and you look at your phone, you're telling me 'that notification - while not knowing in advance what it is exactly - is more important than you'.

Ironically, Children of the Internet by Future Utopia started playing in my ears. And it ends with these lyrics:

The mobile phone is both a connection and disconnection device, and is typically placed between the human and its surroundings

Tuning the surroundings out

I stopped everything; replayed the song entirely listening more carefully to the lyrics. And then took the earpods out, put the phone away. I enjoyed the rest of the day.

The whole lyrics are worth a read. Listen to the music while going through them.

I flashback to a time, I was maybe 12

When we used to play outside and give Granny hell
Daily trying just to not end up dead or in jail
Now these kids braindead and prisoners to they cell
My li'l cuzzy come around and barley make a sound
He got his headphones on, his head looking down
Disconnected from everything that surrounds him
The Social Dilemma tendency's on the thousand
Few raise they brows while most keep browsing
Seconds turn to minutes and the minutes turn to hours an'
Then the hours turn to days, wilful lounging
You livin' on the internet, ain't focused on ya housing (Housing)
Now how the fuck that shit sounding?
She smiling in the pictures, but inside she frowning (She frowning)
Thirsty for attention, got her so obsessed
I guess we just Children of the internet

Look
I grew up in a good but a changin' age
My wife and kids - Damon Wayans
When the youth club was everybody's favourite place
Where if you spoke to a girl then it was face-to-face
Bruh, I seen the heart of the 'hood turn trendy
Kids lose interest
Parks turn empty
Social media's got us all less friendly
Now, can't you see the irony?
She's got game when she types to me but nothing in person, that ain't the type for me
Asking "Can we go for dinner yet?" in the flesh
No conversation, no intellect
The future generation of the children of the internet

It's all change an' I'm seeing it now
You can meet a hundred people without leaving your house
Puttin' pictures in a frame, a memory in the clouds
You know everybody keeps their memories in the cloud
We finally found a voice and we ain't speaking as loud
People only wanna listen to the sheep and the crowd
An' any other statement gets you cancelled by an activist that's never helped the cause that they're tweeting about
Do you blame public figures and personalities, for giving li'l kids a warped views of reality?
Or blame all o' the apps that make a killing on finding the sweet spot in your self-hate and vanity?
Could you argue that it's borderline dangerous to take a picture of a girl's face and start changin' it?
With one quick filter, your nose looks thinner
Your eyes look fuller
Your lips look bigger
Your software's better and your phone knows everything
If anything, it's getting George Orwellian

Look
It's all connected, nobody's protected
From business collectives, your info's collected

There are more active cell phones on the planet than people
The mobile phone is both a connection and disconnection device, and is typically placed between the human and its surroundings
Tuning the surroundings out
Children of the internet