The shackle.

[xoagray]

Smartphones have become a ball and chain.

Their use is so ubiquitous, so expected, that it's become the odd person that doesn't use one.

it's expected whenever we do anything we'll use the phone app for it. And everything has an app.

It's so bad one can feel lost if they don't bring a smartphone with them everywhere, often checking it or posting from it several times an hour, every day, for years.

It's amazing to think 15 years ago, most people didn't use them.

Just 15 years.

People are starting to shed their smartphones again now. The younger folks. Though for different reasons than I consider doing it.

I want to for privacy, they want to for mental health, we're both right.

The being constantly available is a drain. And being constantly surveilled a threat. Smartphones are the penultimate form of both these things.

They are our modern day Tron disks. Everything we do or learn we imprint on them.

And through them we are devoured, dissected, and sold.

But people love them, defend them, argue over who has the better screen, camera, etc.

No one wants to think about the elephant in the room. No one dares.

We warship the tech giants that would sell our souls if they could find a way to data mine them.

They make millions off our data, while they charge us thousands for the right to have our privacy taken away.

This is the state of smart everything in 2024.