To put it straight ahead, because the suspicion might well arise: I am not 60. And I love technology. My smartphone shows me the way, gives me answers, saves memories for me, to put it in a totally poetic way. But then unfortunately the smartphone poetry ends again. Because what I see around me with a lot of smartphone owners around me makes me almost sink into the ground with shame. Sometimes I want to move next to the 70-year-old shaking my head and whisper: “I'm a double agent. I actually belong to your camp! To those who don't trust progress. ”They would nod neatly and shake their heads with me.
You can't clap without hands
Recently at a concert again. After a gigantic show, the names of the musicians were mentioned full of pathos. What would have previously led to a whistle-gossip-cry fireworks led to this evening: well, to nothing. While the frontman was clearly desperate for the due recognition of his band's brilliant performance, thousands of smartphones stoically focused on the poor happenings. Well, what should you do with a cell phone in your hands? You can't clap without hands. Don't whistle without fingers. And obviously nobody wants to hear their own roar on the self-made three-hour video. The smartphone silence annoys not only me, but also the artists themselves. The lead singer of the rock band "The Yeah Yeah Yeahs" asked her fans to put their cell phones away during a concert in New York City. At least I am not alone with this demand.
With a smartphone in the playground "Honey smile!"
The smartphone craze in the playground is also very bad. There the perfect golden sunbeam is found on the perfectly illuminated play equipment, the trimmed offspring is staged like a celebrity child and then photographed for the Mutti Whatsapp group with a beaming smile with a waving mane in the live function. "Max can now swing alone!" Because if Max can swing alone, then Mom can stare at the phone in peace. And when Max calls out "Mom, look what I can", Mom is ready in a flash and holds the lens on it. So that everyone can see how talented he is, Max. Only she herself, unfortunately she didn't see it live.
The smartphone etiquette only needs one rule
It would be extremely easy to use the advantages of the smartphone and still be there for Max, to pay due respect to artists and to remain a good conversation partner over coffee, even though Whatsapp is currently in full swing. The golden rule could be: man before technology. Face-to-face before Facetime. And it would help everyone. If everyone knew that, then no one would be offended that he was not informed about Max's rocking skills by cell phone. This someone could take a look at them personally. And nobody would expect to be immediately available in every situation. At least not digitally. It is much more important that we are available to our children. That we clap when we are enthusiastic and that we look into the eyes of our counterpart when we are told something. Then I would like to tell the 70-year-old head shakers what a profit smartphones are and that you don't have to be afraid of progress. But to do that, we would have to learn to handle progress sensibly. And sometimes that means ignoring him.