22 Cartoons That Show How Smartphones Are Killing Real Conversations

22 Cartoons That Show How Smartphones Are Killing RealConversations

May 7, 2015Art

Okay, Ill admit it. Sometimes I look at Facebook at the table. Just a couple years ago, that thought never would

have occurred to me. So Im guilty of it, but these cartoons kinda made me think twice about the habit.

You see people doing it all the time. Coffee shops, zoos, all sorts of different places their faces are buried in

their smart phones, not engaging with whats going on around them. These days, someone not glued to the

phone is an exception.

Does this technology improve our lives? Definitely! But maybe its time to show a little self control.

Enjoy.

h/t [boredpanda]

35 Comments Sort by

David Eric Lawton Reverse Logistics Specialist (Shipping/Receiving) at Target

Before smartphones (and still now) people sat in coffee shops, at the breakfast table, etc. with a

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newspaper or a book. Why doesn't anyone complain about that? It's the same concept, just with new

technology.

People don't think before openning their mouths or writing an article.

Like Reply 20 May 10, 2015 9:39pm

Vanessa Reign

Well...did they take the newspaper with them on the bus, then at work, then on the train, on

a date, to the cinema,then at the dinner table, to the toilet, then on the nightstand? Think.

Like Reply 44 May 12, 2015 3:47am

David Eric Lawton Reverse Logistics Specialist (Shipping/Receiving) at Target

Vanessa Reign Actually to most (not all) of those, yes. I've seen a lot of people doing exactly

those things for many years.


Sindri Bjrn kason Works at Reykjavkurborg

David Eric Lawton I apologize, sir. Your profile picture was very misleading. I deleted the

comment posted in my moment of ignorance and will leave this comment as a formal

apology. I'm sorry.


Show 10 more replies in this thread

Chantal de Paus Freelance Translator at Cat Got Your Tongue?

This article makes me realise two things:

1 I belong to a shrinking group of people whose lives don't revolve around WhatsApp, selfies and

texting. I can go for days without using my smartphone, I often leave the house without my phone, I

rarely take a selfie and I seldom text or app. My smartphone doesn't control my life.

2 I used to not need a mobile phone at all, so it's gaining territory in my daily life. I need to be careful

not to turn into a smartphone-addicted drone, because it just stealthily forces its way into everyday

habits.


Isaac Williams Lead Game Designer at Ars Tali Games

This article is an obnoxious oversimplification. Imposing human centricism and egoism on

technology rather than realising we've always been like this.


Rob Kennedy Cleveland, Ohio

Isaac Williams I doubt you're old enough to remember how we've "always been."


Joseph Filip Ad Integrity Analyst at Facebook

Rob Kennedy Maybe he read a book on his phone. Personal experience isn't a reliable source

of truth most of the time.



Luke Mckeown-Todd CEO at Cerberus Industries

Smartphones are not the downfall of humanity that anyone born before 1990 seems to think they are.

Life was not perfect before they came along and it hasn't collapsed now that they have. I am fortunate

enough to have grown up just as they emerged so i can see it from both sides. Whilst i could rant for

ages about the benefits of the added knowledge of all mankind in your hand and how its impossible for

the older generations to understand i won't.

I will say this and simply this. I can talk to my girlfriend who lives an hour and half drive away from me

whenever we want. I can keep talking to m... See More


Jim Wetherell Works at Retired

And the great thing is you can do all that without have to shave, shower, or get dressed, all

from the convenience of your home.


Amanda Jean Turner Brampton, Ontario

Technology has its advantages, but so many people are slaves to it (including myself). There is

truth in these cartoons. It's not healthy.


Joseph Stafford

Disagree. Your talking about the uses of Skype etc which is great for its limited uses. This

article talks to how '3rd person' or 'spare wheel' the cell-phone has become in alot of peoples

day to day lives. Whether dining out with a loved one OR sitting alone on a bus or in a park

human engagement with either mother nature OR 'self' has given way to voyerism or ego-ism

needing to see how many people liked your last post or snooping through your newsfeed to

see what other people are doing but the worst thing is people needing to introduce their social

network into whatever one is doing even if that one might be supposedly enjoying the

company of another face2face.....absolutely weird.



Andrew Gilbert Sociology Tutor at La Trobe University

Never has a new technology been so socially isolating since the invention of the book


Ray Govett Hughson, California

Yes, and look where those damn things led us


Andrew Gilbert Sociology Tutor at La Trobe University

Ray Govett Yes, I think between religious or political fundamentalism on the one hand and

literature, poetry, science, philosophy, etc. on the other, the jury is still out on the book.

Like Reply 19 hrs

Jean Brake Masters Morgantown High School

Best "laugh" of the day and so true!


Surya TeJa Rayachoty, India

Yes mam!

Like Reply May 9, 2015 7:24pm

Surya TeJa Rayachoty, India

So Sorry to say that Smartphones aren't just revolutionizing our lifes, but they are degrading our Life

style and Health!!


John Lines Owner/Photographer at GreenTurtle Photography

My friends little girl told us in tears one night that when she walks by herself if someone walks by she

either looks at her phone or pretends she's talking to someone.... I know, phones don't make people

have personal problems just like guns don't kill, but what if the best friend you ever met walked on by

in their "phone shell" and you missed the person that would help you more than anything? So the

phone seldom receives in my house, it's illegal behind the wheel, it costs three to four times as much as

a land line ever did and is three to four times less reliable. Kids look like the zombie apocalypse, and they

believe cellular activity might be killing bees and be harmful to human life.WTF? Like a lot of innovations

of the 21st century, if I had a button on my cell that destroyed every single phone on the planet- I

already pushed it. Write me a letter if you can write that is....


Janice La Brooy Supervising at Cargo Company

Just reminds me of time spent in the presence of friends and my husband. Uuuuugggghh!!! Just like

spending time with a door knob. Irritating and oh so annoying.


Eelco Cramer Multi inzetbaar figuur at Het Burgerweeshuis

Smartphones are a good thing. It helps internet addicts leave the house for a change.



Technology is not destroying the art of conversation. The art of conversation is adapting to

technology. Tell me one thing that a face-to-face conversation offers that a conversation via

technology doesn't. This, however, doesn't not mean that there aren't problems.

People are far more connected than ever, and this excessive connectivity has a tendency to lead to a

degredation of individualism. The more contact you have with people, the more you are influenced by

them and they by you. The two of you become closer and closer to being of identical mind the more

you talk.

The biggest probl... See More


Chantal de Paus Freelance Translator at Cat Got Your Tongue?

"Tell me one thing that a face-to-face conversation offers that a conversation via technology

doesn't."

doesn't."

Body language.


Stephanie Tramdack Cash Cape May Court House, New Jersey

Further to Chantal de Paus' response: all the richness and nuance of voice - which, for me,

even voice telephony does not capture. The real, breathing, energetic presence of another

human being right with us, close enough to touch or not touch. The ability to see how

someone really is, as opposed to how they come across in a few stilted words on a flat little

screen.


Sabrina Creedon Largo, Florida

Chantal de Paus A conversation via technology could be something like Skype or FaceTime

where you're fully capable of seeing and hearing the other person.

Like Reply 22 hrs

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Deanna Westwood Riebeeck College Girls High

Good point Luke - My dad is 90 and pretty much housebound - thanks to technology he gets to keep

in touch with people he can't physically visit, chatting to them on Skype, he can still manage his own

banking, even though he can't get there, read the news, watch catch-up TV, electronic books where

he can adjust the print size to suit, brain-training exercises, the list goes on. That said, those cartoons

are a reminder that we need to value face to face time with people we love


Lyle Caine Specialty Department at Whole Foods Market - Sherman Oaks on Sepulveda Blvd

People defending smartphones. Oh, joy!

Like Reply 1 15 hrs

Shaun Kennedy

It is not the fault of the technology, the technology is amazing, revolutionary and awesome. I really am

in awe of how far phones have come. The fault is in the abuse of the technology, the addiction, the

endless denial hidden behind fallacious arguments to their merit. Articles like this use humor to illustrate

a wasting disease of human interaction where the abuse of this technology reigns. You can have a

smartphone and use it wisely, make it a tool and not a vice. There's no need to be put on the

defensive when an article decries the abuse, simply do not be the abuser. It's easier said than done

sadly but the truth is in your own social life.

Like Reply 1 4 hrs

Ben Kachasu Cape Town, Western Cape

YOU ROCK

Like Reply 12 hrs

Dave Kinsella Content Creator at YouTube

There will always be a negative and positive to every action. Smartphones have improved areas of our

lives and perhaps degraded others. Anyone looking back on the "good ol' days" is deluded or anyone

thinking thecnology will bring about a Utopia is also mistaken. Things are never going to be as they

were again, and we can either sit here and moan about it or embrace it and make the best of it.



This is, quite possibly, one of the smartest posts on this page.

Like Reply May 13, 2015 1:28am

Sergio Cl

and everybody whatching this shit guess what_ ... by and phone..... so no way

Like Reply 22 hrs

Bill DeLuna Lewis Bartender at Special Event Services

.. thats cute . you think you get it.

Like Reply 21 hrs

Bill DeLuna Lewis Bartender at Special Event Services

Not the date,not the cinema.. and nightstands?..those were books. the rest YES absolutely cos' they

caused actual conversations.

Like Reply 21 hrs

Andy Shick Buffalo, New York

Should be "magic smartphone" not "smartphone smartphone"

Like Reply May 9, 2015 9:30am

Jesse Krause

I wonder how many people read this article on their smartphone.

Kind of ironic seeing the exact kind of oversimplified meme whose spread depends on social media

bashing social media.

There is a happy medium. Technology has advantages, but, like anything, there are downsides too.

Maybe, just maybe, it isn't black and white. Mind=blown.

Like Reply 21 hrs

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22 Cartoons That Show How Smartphones Are Killing Real Conversations

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