大象传媒

Writer and Musician, Jahnavi Harrison:听
I remember the fateful day in 2009 when I received my first smartphone. It was a hand me down from a friend. He insisted. I resisted. He said it would make my life so much easier. I didn鈥檛 believe him. I鈥檇 held off getting a mobile phone til I was 19 - late compared to my friends...and and I鈥檇 already noticed the creep of distraction, even if it was just feverishly playing Snake on the bus, during time previously reserved for looking out the window. He said I鈥檇 be able to find my way around like never before.听
That sounded tempting. I鈥檓 not bad with directions, but the idea of being able to be guided to by an all-knowing voice anytime sounded near spiritual. I promised myself I wouldn鈥檛 get addicted. I鈥檇 turn it off every night and only turn it bakc on when I needed it. I wouldn鈥檛 download any games and definitely wouldn鈥檛 get into all the new apps that seemed to be insidiously creeping into everyday life. Now. I speak from the other side as a veteran of around six phones - each of which has become like another limb.听
To my frustration I check it too many times a day to admit on national radio, and at the end of my life, it'll probably count for months worth of distraction. The lockdown has illuminated my relationship with it like never before but after six weeks of most human connection filtered through screens, I've become so weary of the bleeps and rings and buzz... to leave it down the side of the sofa is bliss. But I was talking to a friend yesterday who works as a hospital chaplain.听
He's assisting critical patients in using smartphones and tablets to have conversations with their families, sometimes for the last time. I thought about how immeasurably precious a phone must be in those moments, and how fortunate I am to have the facility to communicate at all, then inevitably felt a bit stupid. A knife can be used to cure, or kill or cut a vegetable. And a phone can save a life or make that same life pass in a distracted, frenetic haze. Every tool has its proper use. Maybe I just need retraining.