As I sat in a local restaurant with an old friend recently, the old friend suddenly said, in tones of concern, “Oh! I just realised I’ve come out without my phone!” I commented that it happens to me too, that sudden moment of panic when you remember your phone is sitting on the bedroom window-ledge at home instead of in your pocket or handbag. And then we both laughed: two women in their seventies coming over all “young person” because we might be incommunicado for a while.
I can remember years ago being very reluctant to buy a mobile phone. In the end I think it was my regular commute to and from work and the prospect of perhaps breaking down on the motorway that convinced me that it would be useful to have the means of sending for help quickly. And so it began. And now, with my smart phone, I snap photos wherever I go, check the weather, even download train tickets onto it and generally feel a bit anxious if I don’t know exactly where the annoying little gadget is.
Not that it’s as small now as mobile phones once were. I have a number of handbags (just another thing I have acquired too many of over the years!) with a nifty inner pocket to put your phone in so you can locate it easily. Unfortunately, more recent versions of the iPhone won’t fit in said pocket. This is partly due, no doubt, to the fact that so many people read newspapers and even novels or watch movies or play games on their phone, all activities which are improved by having a slightly larger screen. Another factor is that loads of people never put their phone in a pocket at all but have it constantly in their hand.
But they are still annoying, even if no longer tiny. The number of times I have unknowingly phoned my daughter from my coat pocket is ridiculous. My daughter, young enough not to let a device like a mobile phone get the better of her, has been known to video the inside of her pocket or bag by accidentally pressing a button as she put the phone away. And yesterday, having had an exchange of messages with one of the older granddaughters I put the phone aside and suddenly found myself in the middle of a group video chat - me, my daughter and Granddaughters Numbers One and Two, with the small people popping in and out from time to time - instigated apparently by me! How we laughed!
Then this morning I read about a little place in France called Seine-Port, in the Seine-et-Marne region near Paris. It has just under 2,000 inhabitants, and last weekend held a referendum to restrict smartphone use in public, banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates. Those who might check their phone’s map when lost are instead being encouraged to ask for directions. However, it must be quite hard to get lost in a small place like that.
277 people turned out to vote – about 20% of the electoral register – with 54% in favour of the charter. Hardly a majority of the inhabitants but then, the same could be said about our Brexit referendum! I wonder what the result would have been if the younger residents of Seine-Port had been able to vote.
One father of two children, aged one and four, commented, “I’m totally in favour of this; some say it’s an attack on freedoms but I don’t think so. It’s about raising awareness of the impact of phones in our lives.
“My one-year-old has zero screens. My four-year-old has no screens on a school day, and only ever for a short moment while the youngest is napping. A lot of children and adults are intoxicated by screens – even babies in pushchairs scroll phones. This is about replacing that with more human contact. Before I had children, my TV was always on in the background; now I never switch it on.”
Seine-Port seems relatively happy with the decision but would it work in a bigger place?
Here’s a sign from outside the school in Seine-Port.
In the left-hand sign the woman says to her husband, "Tell your son to stop using his phone at the table", to which the man repkies, "I'll send him a text".
And here’s a link to another bit of community action, this time in Madrid, where the people who live in and around the Plaza Santa Ana are protesting about the cutting down of trees. Madrid is a phenomenally hot city in the summer months and needs all the shade it can get. Not to mention the environmental impact of cutting down more trees!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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