As the title states mobile phones are the opium den of the 21st century. Dopamine instead of opium.
The phone itself is like the pipe the addict smokes and the apps, games and everything else running on the phone itself designed to provide dopamine hits are the opium.
Apple, Samsung etc are selling the pipes to smoke the opium and Zuckerberg, the google dweebs, candy crushing game developers, and the other tech douchebags are the actual drug dealers.
%98 of the adult U.S. population is hooked. The first thing they do when they wake up and the last thing they do before they go to sleep is hit the pipe.
You hit the pipe and waste your life while they make money from your wasted time and potential.
When do you put the pipe down? When you're physically dying?
I've never owned a mobile phone so I don't hit the pipe.
I laugh when I see celebrities talking about the brave individuals they know who have a "flip phone" like its some kind of rebellious act- living out their ascetic existence with their humble flip phone ^_^
You don't have to have a mobile phone at all. I use Google voice on my laptop for texting/calls when I need to.
Here's my tip- if you claim to be a creator- get rid of your fucking phone- it's destroying your imagination and your ability to focus for long periods of time which is required to make great work.
Its going to be painful at first because you are addicted but just allow yourself to let go and be consumed by the work, it will do things for you that no phone or app can ever do.
I get where you’re coming from, for sure. I’m 30 and sometimes when I visit my mom she plays on her iPad while I’m trying to talk to her. If I mention a name it’s, “oh let me look them up on Facebook quick.”
ReplyDeleteI’d argue the problem is the apps and not the phone. And by apps, I mean social media.
The camera on my phone is better than the digital cameras I used in school. There are free apps to edit, color correct, create music, anything.
It’s a tool, just like a PC. You can use your PC to waste away on Facebook or play WoW all day too.
I think smart phones have the potential (and have shown it) to be great tools for low budget filmmakers and students. You’ve got a camera, a mic, an NLE, storyboarding, and a wealth of tutorials in something that fits in your pocket. That’s pretty fuckin cool imo.
Thank you for the comment.
DeleteIt's sort of like a PC but you don't drive around with your Pc in your car or walk around with your Pc in your pocket, you don't have your personal PC in class at school etc- the phone never leaves, never gets turned off and thats a big part of the problem. People can be addicted to their PC's yes, but they have no choice but to leave them everyday- this is not so with the phone.
The phone is a tool yes but it is also full of distractions that people cannot stop being distracted by. I storyboard in a physical notebook, no one is texting me on it- its not making little sounds or giving me updates etc. The phone is a major distraction tool above all.
There is the common comparison with a phone and a newspaper but people couldn't watch 4k streaming porn or talk/msg people with their newspapers or play 3d games etc- they didn't drive around in their car while reading a newspaper etc- I believe these examples are given by people who know they are addicted and are trying to make excuses passing it off as something that's always been-
The phone has good potential as a creative tool but beyond practice and mediocre output its just a toy as its powers of distraction drain away focus- focus which is required to create quality work-
Check this out- whenever some new tech comes out and you hear "you can do x with it!" and "you can do y with it!" but you can't find any good examples of people actually doing that and/or making anything beyond mediocre demo's then it is probably all hype.
I just gotta disagree with you, man.
ReplyDeletePhones certainly have the capacity to distract, that I won’t argue. But there’s some element of choice in being distracted. You don’t HAVE to have distraction apps, push notifications, or even use it to text for that matter. Those are choices that the person using it makes.
The mediocre output aspect is kinda debatable. Like I said, the camera on my phone beat the Sony PDX-150 I used in film school full-stop. Not even close. That was 12 years ago. Could I buy a camera and mic with comparable quality for less money than my phone today? Yeah, but not by a huge margin and not without compromising.
I picture this from the angle of a middle school or high school student. I had to beg and plead in middle school to play with the districts hi-8 cameras and take them home. 13 year old me would have geeked out to use the phone that I have.
Would I have become distracted? As a 13 year old, sure. I’d probably play angry birds a bit and slack off. But I would get bored and I would chase my PASSION because angry birds isn’t a substitute for making cool stuff. 13 year old me would have got that. Anyone of any age with passion would.
As far as your example of new tech... it just doesn’t hold up that well. A simple google search for “movies shot on phones” will yield many results. You can’t dismiss them all as crap or mediocre if you’re honest with yourself.
I have a few lovely cameras but I don’t have the luxury of being able to bring them with me everywhere I go. If I see something in the wild that I want to document for whatever reason... that little phone comes in pretty damn handy.
It opens doors for people who otherwise wouldn’t have the access, and that to me is most important of all.
People don't choose to be distracted by phones they are addicted 0_0 Have you ignored all the data that has been released about this?
DeleteThere are tons of things being shot on phones yes- where is the great cinema being created on phones? I'll wait for some links. I am being honest with myself btw please show me the great work shot on phones that I am going to be excited about.
It is giving people access- that is true yes BUT with it- it has made people addicted to it causing them to give all their attention to it preventing them from doing anything else but engaging with the phone the way the people that got them addicted to it want them to use it.
are you still going to make podcast
ReplyDeletePost more often
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