📘 Part 3: Smartphones

This episode's vocabulary

Have enough on one's plate (idiom) – to be too busy to do something else. → Our police force seems to have enough on their plate as it is.

Enforce (v) – to make people obey a rule or law. → People should be prepared to enforce social conventions and back each other up when they do.

Practicable (adj) – able to be done or put into practice successfully. → That seems more attainable and maybe practicable than getting the government involved.

Wind up with (phr. v) – to finally be in a particular place or situation. → If you wind up with just a ton of pictures that you never do anything with, then it's not a great use of time.

A ton of (idiom) – a large amount of something. → Younger people might have a ton of social media apps on their phones.

Undermine (v) – to make something weaker or less effective, often gradually. → Spending time on phones could undermine friendships if people are seen to be getting ignored.

To the detriment of (phrase) – causing harm or damage to something. → They'll spend time on their phones to the detriment of real life interaction.

Conducive to (adj) – providing the right conditions for something good to happen or exist. → Constant notifications aren't very conducive to a good relationship.

Novelty (n) – the quality of being new, original, or unusual. → Younger people are all about novelty and excitement.

Social inertia (n) – the resistance to change or the tendency to maintain the status quo in a social group. → You might just rely on some kind of social inertia to keep friendships ticking over.

Keep things ticking over (idiom) – to keep something functioning at a basic or satisfactory level. → Social inertia can keep things ticking over, but mobile phones allow for a better connection.

Reminisce (v) – to indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events. → Later on this year, I'll be looking through all my old photos and reminiscing.

Detrimental (adj) – causing harm or damage. → Mobile phones could have a detrimental effect on friendship.

Doomscrolling (n) – the act of spending a lot of time consuming large quantities of negative online news. → I was awake half the night doomscrolling.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you think it's necessary to have laws on the use of mobile phones?

Rory: Well, I can think of a lot of parents who would love the thought of that, but I'm not sure how on earth you might enforce that. I mean, our police force seems to have enough on their plate as it is. I think it would be maybe better to have layers of things like social conventions and venue and family policies and agreements as to where and when they are appropriate to use and when it's not allowed. And people should be prepared to enforce them and back each other up when they do. That seems more attainable and maybe practicable than getting the government involved.

Maria: Is it a waste of time to take pictures with mobile phones?

Rory: Well, surely that depends on what you ultimately do with them. I mean, if you wind up with just a ton of pictures that you never do anything with, then it's not a great use of time. But if you photograph something that inspires you, like a piece of artwork or something, and then you come back to it later on to help with your work, then it's certainly been worth the effort.

Maria: What do you think of selfies?

Rory: Well, it's the same principle. It's still a photograph, and it should be taken with a purpose if it's going to have some kind of value. It's not being taken just because, or hopefully it's not. So I don't distinguish what I said about pictures in general from what I'm going to say about selfies. It's the same idea.

Maria: What positive impacts do mobile phones have on friendship?

Rory: Well, I suppose they allow you to stay in touch with people over greater distances and times. So they might help people who rarely see each other maintain a sense of connection better or at least they can do that better than just relying on some kind of social inertia to keep things ticking over. They can also give you different ways to interact, like on social media with different memes. So things are always fresh and they don't get boring easily.

Maria: And what about the negative impacts on friendship?

Rory: Oh, I mean, well, a lot of people tend to mistake the medium for the message, don't they? So they'll spend time on their phones to the detriment of real life interaction and that could undermine friendships if people are seen to be getting ignored by their friends, who might be favoring their phones. So they could also just be a distraction in general, with notifications going off all the time and interrupting people, which isn't very conducive to a good relationship, is it?

Maria: How do young and old people use mobile phones differently?

Rory: Well, if younger people are all about novelty and excitement, then I imagine they'll be downloading different kinds of apps that work in a variety of ways to cater to that. So that could be getting ones for gaming in various forms or just a ton of social media apps that have slight tweaks to make them seem interesting. Older people tend towards more practicality and stability. So they're more likely to stick to work related things like email or AI apps to increase productivity. At least that seems to be the case.

Maria: Do you think it's a good idea to allow young children to use mobile phones?

Rory: Well, they should learn to use them responsibly. So provided it's being done under the supervision of a responsible adult, then why not? I think that's perfectly acceptable.