The other day, while taking a break at a gym, looked out from the balcony overlooking the courtyard below and noticed something odd. There was a group of people slowly walking single-file; however, it was an open space and there really was no need to form a line. They were all gawking at their phones—slow-moving with no sense of anything going on around them. The scene looked the beginnings of a zombie movie, when the characters start getting an inkling of things being a bit off.
How much more, at places like the local mall, so many are wandering aimlessly staring at their phones, bumping into things around them or seemingly shocked to realize there are other people living in the city. And the “trend” only continues to grow—still sounds like zombies.
I’m in my mid-30s. For a while, I thought maybe I’m just too old for that habit. It did seem to be mostly younger people; kids in high school (and those with a high school mentality) but, I was proven wrong yet again since there is also a growing number of older people doing the same juvenile thing. On more than several occasions, there are older people (senior citizens, perhaps) standing in the middle of restaurants or (a personal favorite) in front of the escalator just staring at their phone. The zombies come in all age groups.
The instances where I have found myself staring at my phone while walking at the same time are either trying to follow directions or change songs. For things like texting or checking an email, I would typically find somewhere to sit or pull over to the side and take care of whatever business. Out of curiosity—wondering what is so crucial that these “zombies” must keep walking and staring at their phones—have glanced over to see what was so vital and have often found them looking through pictures on their phone, scrolling their Facebook news feed, or merely swiping their home screen icons back and forth. Why is that necessary?
Last May, PC Mag published “11 Reasons to Stop Looking at Your Smartphone” and among them, they noted: “Smartphones Make You Unlikable.” Personally, that is a definite. Not even knowing any of these “zombies,” I already have a distaste for them because of their inconsiderate nature.
“Studies reveal that frequent peeks at your device might damage your friendships as much as your eyes,” the article noted. “A 2012 University of Essex study found that the mere presence of a mobile device can make people have a negative impression of us.”
They also highlighted something this column has been discussing, “Smartphones Make Walking Dangerous”
“Phones can distract you on the street just as much as behind the wheel,” the article explained. “In fact, an increase in pedestrian deaths in 2016 was partially due to distractions caused by smartphones, according to a March 2017 report from the US Governors Highway Safety Association.”
Catherine Price wrote a piece for the New York Times earlier this year to discuss how putting down the smartphone can extends one’s life.
“An increasing body of evidence suggests that the time we spend on our smartphones is interfering with our sleep, self-esteem, relationships, memory, attention spans, creativity, productivity, and problem-solving and decision-making skills,” she explained. “By chronically raising levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, our phones may be threatening our health and shortening our lives.”
Coupled with the We Are Social and Hootsuite digital report from earlier this year that found the Philippines was number one in the world for people spending time online—averaging 10 hours and two minutes a day—the nation could be ground zero for the zombie apocalypse.

Addiction
Online magazine Mental Floss put out an article last year that looked at cell phone addiction.
“We are getting something from our phones, though, and it’s not just access to the internet,” wrote Troy Farah. “Receiving a notification gives us a small dopamine burst and we learn to associate that dose of pleasure with the smartphone.”
“It’s not unusual for people to become attached to an action (checking the phone) rather than its reward (getting a notification),” he added. “We can become compulsively attached to the cues of phone use; we cling to the physical stimuli our brains have linked to the reward.”
Incidentally, the PC Mag article also noted: “Phones Are Altering Our Brains (Maybe).”
They cited one study that looked at how brain activity was affected when near a cell phone and found about a seven percent increase, but the cause and long-term effects have yet to be seen. They also presented a study that showed the effect on those constantly exposed to multiple media at a time.
“[They] tend to have smaller gray matter area in the anterior cingulate cortex; this is the part of the brain that is responsible for setting goals and following through,” the article pointed out.

Status?
Gideon Lasco, a physician and medical anthropologist, penned an opinion piece for the Philippine Daily Inquirer a couple years ago and asked if smartphones are a “status symbol.” Given the way individuals love flaunting the fact that they have a phone, I have posed similar questions in the past but given, at this point, most people have smartphones, how could it still be considered a status symbol?
“For the rich, it is all about being able to show one’s status,” Lasco explained. “The rest, on the other hand, would also aspire to have a nice cell phone—fueled in part by the desire to be like the rich.”
“Status symbols give a semblance of equality even as they obscure inequalities between the different people that possess them,” he added.
It’s no surprise if all of this boils down to status (and a desire to climb that ladder). Although, how exactly does one imagine themselves of a “higher status” when they don’t even have a basic semblance of manners? Unless, their image of the wealthy are individuals spending their days wandering aimlessly with their heads-down staring at icons swinging back and forth under their thumb./WDJ