Look up, reality’s calling

[Sally]

This happens here too, and probably all around the world where a lot of people have cell phones.

Look up, reality’s calling
I was completing my visa procedures at the fingerprint office when it dawned on me - no one wants to look up from their phones in Kuwait. When I went stepped inside the little room where they take your fingerprints, there were three officers on duty.

The main one - the officer who actually does the process - was staring intently down at his phone on the table. I was next in line and wondered what he was looking at. From the serious, concentrated look on his face, I thought it had something to do with the procedure.

When I finally reached the counter, I looked down to see that he was in fact watching ‘Top Gear’ on his smartphone. The process takes around 30 seconds, but the entire time he didn’t even take a look at my face. He took my fingerprints, pressed some buttons and told me I was done - all the while watching Jeremy Clarkson critique cars on his show. It is an issue I’ve noticed in public places ever since I returned to Kuwait. No one, except on rare occasions, looks up from their smartphones.

Continue reading at:

Look up reality s calling - Kuwait Times Kuwait Times

 

[Grandma]

Evidently you don't personally know anyone with a cellphone. They're each in their own little world, kinda Twilight Zone-ish.

 

[Sally]

Evidently you don't personally know anyone with a cellphone. They're each in their own little world, kinda Twilight Zone-ish.

Now, Grandma, even if I didn't know anyone with a cellphone, which would be kind of difficult these days since practically everyone owns one, a person would have to be comatose not to see what is going on -- women pushing their strollers with a friend but talking on their phones instead of having a conversation with their friend, people standing in the aisles of stores talking on their phones, people in restaurants speaking on their phones instead of their dinner companion. In fact my husband saw two women hit each other in a parking lot, and when both women got out of their cars, they were still talking on their phones. Anyhow, didn't you think those Kuwaiti people had the right idea of what they did with their phones when they got together with their friends to socialize?