Resist the Smartphone cult while you still can

Smartphones are becoming a part of modern culture. These revolutionary touchscreen gadgets are quickly developing a massive following, with many people joining the bandwagon, signing onto having one. Samsung, alongside Sony have begun competing with Apple in this very lucrative market. With more benefits, features and applications available than ever, what exactly is to cheer about these smartphones? Now that  a cult has been built around them, the dark sides have gone from being small cracks, to vast crevasses. People are more anti-social, rude, impolite, and cold in social situations than ever before. Nothing is wrong with having such a device. It's the manner in which people are using them. Pretty soon, no other phone options will exist, so resist this obsessive cult of the smartphone while it's still possible.

You have just met up with someone for coffee. The conversation is going great. The flat white swims down gratuitously, the baked food tasted great. Everything's going well, until this person whips out their smartphone. Never mind its brand or make, along with such an unexpected move. Mere boredom surely can't have brought about such a contemptible action. Abject, moronic excuses are often given to recipients of such rudeness but there is no excuse for lacking common etiquette. "Oh just give me a second" they say, pushing many buttons, as if the person in front of them lacks everything possible. More and more people are becoming infatuated with the idea about a smartphone being everything imaginable, completing a desire for happiness. Apple recently unveiled its IPhone 5, to rapturous applause. What's to cheer? More interrupted face to face conversations. Increasing masses who cannot resist the urge to whip out these blocks of metal every five seconds. Being told life is not complete without such a product. No, the modern movement of smartphones has become an evil mixing pot for anti-social behavior .

The people who possess habits like texting during conversations or in s social setting are not weirdos and may not ever be anti-social in many situations. Being so uncoourteous though is definietely a weirdo habit to have. What matters more? The right to give someone who is in front of you your undivided attention? Or childishly play around with your smart phone? Nobody wants to be ignored when in a real life scenario. Nothing is more humiliating than someone giving a piece of metal attention than a living, real and emotional human. It reduces the value the person places on the meeting with that person, preferring to stray away from interaction, instead choosing to be deliberately rude. What used to be taking a phone call has now become a text message bombardment, flicking through facebook, surfing the net, scanning around a photo gallery.

How degrading can it get when you're having a good conversation with someone and you have to stop because the person with you is not paying attention to you. If someone is having a face to face conversation, then suddenly turns their head to briefly chat with someone else, it'd be seen as an extreme lack of manners. Yet as this is done in bite size form, it doesn't seem to be so bothersome. The frightening thing is that people are becoming more indifferent towards people playing with smartphones in conversation. It's beginning to be seen as a normal thing to do. Is everyone a king, a president, an ambassador for their country? Is every text message, every facebook status update, every bloody email so important that it must be replied to in the middle of a conversation. A real life conversation is a commitment to the person in front of you; they've made sacrifices to be available to converse with you, the very least which can be done in return is demonstrating to that person you care enough to listen to whatever it is they have to say, without playing around on that stupid piece of metal every minute, second, hour of the talk.

Smartphones are the smart way to be anti-social. Catch people out who hold their head high and give excuses for being anti-social and rude. There is no excuse for bad manners and no reason why playing with a piece of metal should be seen as normal, alongside people being indifferent towards it. Try leaving the phone behind next time. You might find the conversation is a lot more enjoyable then being part of a cult which encourages weirdo behaviour.