It is very common to be in a restaurant, waiting for the bus, in the checkout line, at a cafe, and to see people around you with their eyes glued to their electronics. I can't be one to judge, I do it all the time, however, it is quiet interesting to try to see why we are so obsessed with our mini computers.
A very interesting take on why we are so captivated by the screen is that we are not so much interested in what we are looking at, but rather we are trying to find a way to divert our attention away from ourselves. We are looking at a shiny screen to avoid looking into our reality. Why look directly at your life, why look into your failures, your flaws, your thoughts, when you can look at someone else's edited life.
As a college student I can definitely see the validity in this argument. So many of my peers are looking at what someone else had for breakfast or what new clothes so-and-so got but the moment they put their phone down they bond over their disappointments of life. Complaining about how much things you have to do, how tired you are, or how miserable you're feeling seem to have become the most popular topics of conversation among students.
It is very normal for us to run away from our problems. It is natural to get frightened at having to face our lives, our problems, and our issues and try to run away from them. We even create television shows about it. However I have a lingering thought about this topic. In one of my favorite books, King Kong Theory, there's a quote which really struck a cord with me; "An insecure consumer is the best consumer".
Trying to evade or problems is a normal reaction. It takes a lot of effort and work to try to tackle our problems head on and most of us would rather not. However, I can't help but wonder, have we fallen into a trap. A trap in which we consistently distract ourselves rather than face up to our reality and either accept it or improve it. A trap in which we consistently feel anxious about ourselves and about our lives but never change anything about it because we are too busy looking at the latest post. A trap in which we consistently feel and stay insecure and in which we consistently stay as the best consumer.