Culture

Tell me the last time you just did something without your phone playing chaperone

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There was a time—not ancient history, just pre-everything-needs-a-passwordwhen you could simply exist in public without downloading something first. I remember writing about this years ago after watching a Sesame Street skit that cheerfully predicted a world of apps for everything. It felt cute. Playful. Slightly absurd.

Well. Joke’s on us.

Now I can’t park my car without an app. I can’t read a menu without scanning a QR code like I’m entering a secret society. I can’t complete a 30-second human interaction without being asked to rate it, review it, and possibly nominate it for a customer service Emmy. Five stars for handing me a muffin? Sure. Why not. Let me just unlock my phone, remember my password, verify via text, and sacrifice a small piece of my soul first.

As a social psychologist, I keep thinking about what this does to us. Kurt Lewin told us behavior is a function of person and environment. Well, our environment now requires constant digital compliance. Every small act from parking, to ordering, to checking in comes with a technological hoop. It’s not just convenience anymore; it’s conditioning. Tap. Scan. Download. Agree. Repeat.

And somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like freedom and started feeling like a leash.

A very polite leash, of course. One that says “for your convenience” while quietly training us to outsource even the smallest decisions and interactions. One that nudges us to document, rate, and optimize every micro-moment of our lives.

Do I sound dramatic? Maybe. But also tell me the last time you just did something without your phone playing chaperone.

I’ll wait. 🙂

Categories: Culture, current events, identity, mental health, Pop Culture, Psychology, society

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8 replies »

  2. Ouch.

    I don’t get out much, but you’re right. What a nightmare it is to be somewhere with just your phone for money, summoning a rideshare, getting into somewhere.

    Especially now when we have been hacked and are skittish and doing 2-factor id for everything, to be safe.

    Ouch.

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  3. Oh Dear Lord Dear Miriam

    ‘App me not’ So True
    As Apps May Add to

    iMaGiNaTioN CREaTiViTY
    And PRoDuCTiViTY or just

    Become another Distraction
    hehe sort of like the Art of
    Mixed Capitalization for those

    Who Do Not Enjoy Word Puzzles
    With Various Meanings ThiS WaY

    Yet true it’s getting
    a bit too much

    going to the

    Military Gym Finding
    A QR Code on the Doors
    Likely Just another Door to
    Another Rabbit Hole of an App
    to Find Out what the Hours of Operation are

    the way they

    Used to hang on signs Dear Lord NoW

    Requiring Another F in pASSWord

    or True on the Day Before that Yes
    too Having to Register for an App
    AT Walmart to get a Pneumonia
    Vaccine Shot that wouldn’t

    even work

    as the Pharmacist
    Succumbed to the
    Old Way of Clipboard
    And a Few Lines to Fill Out

    And Back to the Gym QR Codes on
    the Machines for Operational Instructions

    hmm i guess in case the gym assistant doesn’t
    Understand how or You Cannot Humanly Figure it out

    on Your
    Own Yet

    WAIT!

    the Military
    Gym is One Place
    i Enjoy for a Few
    Hours without
    a smart phone at all

    for It is true so sad as
    Distraction becomes a way
    of Smart Phone Focus where
    Elite Military Dudes end up Pressing

    Barbells
    Without Plates
    As the Smart Phone
    Comes To Rule Human Potentials

    the way of Modernity continuing to
    Increase in Rabbit holes of Apps and
    Social Engineering for Total Human Control

    On the Other Hand what a gift some Apps are
    to increase Human Potentials in ways never imagined

    before

    in The
    Entire Animal
    Kingdom History on Earth

    Hehe like a Weather APP
    to come out of the Heat
    or a Thunderstorm

    as Humans
    increasingly
    are losing their
    ability to even
    assess the Environment

    without a tool anyway as always
    Master The Tool Do Not Let it Control Us
    Abuse Us and Replace Us as AI continues

    to Spread
    Its Grasp of
    Human Potential too

    Yet on the Other hand this is
    Nothing New as Here i am in
    New York New York Again on

    Your Blog As
    Yes Only only
    Representative
    Avatars of Words

    Far Away at least from a
    Full Presentation of my Soul

    And Yes of course 250 Pounds
    Much too Much to Squeeze Through

    A Fiber Optic cable Yet Yes still useful

    Perhaps at Least in Travel Fare Discount

    in TL;
    DR; Ways
    too hehe..:)

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  5. I had to drop off a doc at a city government office recently. 10 minutes on a credit card meter would have been enough. Instead, I had to download the city parking app, and select between one and eight hours. I chose one hour. I was there for eight minutes, and paid $8 (a dollar per minute).

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  7. So far, I’ve been able to refuse apps and texts on my phone. I require them to use email and I access through my computer. Sometimes it’s a battle. It’s like 95% of people are trapped in the Matrix and I’m just outside trying to escape being pulled in with everyone else.

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