In late August, a YouTube video went up called, “I Forgot My Phone.” Wildly successful, it has accumulated over 36 million views and garnered nearly 22,000 comments. I imagine that the general reaction to this video is, “Oh my God. I like, need to stop using my phone all the time.” The video, which is well made, is supposed to make the viewer feel guilty, assuming he or she phone binges.
Here's where this video gets it right: people do often overuse their phones, both in social situations, when it can be rude, and in awkward situations, when it serves as a distraction from discomfort.
And here's where it's wrong: in portraying all phone usage in social situations as negative, the video assumes that the alternative to the phone is more wholesome, more polite, or whatever. Let's explore how this video approaches what is a subtle topic from a binary angle. We'll walk through most of the scenes from the short, all of which feature ” target=”_blank”>bowling alone.
Scene 10: As friends celebrate someone's birthday with a cake, and candles, and everything, they are all recording the moment on their phones (as is the birthday boy).
Fair? Debatable
Why? It's a balance between recording the moment and experiencing the moment. Activities, in this sense, are pies. The more recording you do, the less there is to experience, and vice-versa. It's zero-sum and you have to choose what you value more. If the people recording the birthday are ok with not fully experiencing it, why object?
Scene 11: After a day filled with phone-induced disappointments, Charlene cuddles up in bed with her man and turns off the light. And then the LED glow of the phone comes on because her man is using it…the nerve!
Fair? No
Why? What if he stayed awake later than Charlene to read a book in bed? Anything objectionable about that? No? Case closed.
The subtlety that this video misses is that there are two ways to use a smartphone: as a replacement to a reasonable alternative, and as a distraction from reality. The former is fine, the latter is usually not. If a phone is simply replacing, say, a newspaper, that's a replacement of a reasonable alternative. If, though, a phone is serving as a distraction from your friend's awful bowling performance, that's obnoxious.