There are a hundred reasons to check out a new restaurant. Online resources allow us, given the time, the chance to find all sorts of positive and negative reviews and other items about many types of eateries.
Lately, I’ve started checking out a set of restaurant criteria that didn’t even exist until a couple of years ago:
“Do they have free WiFi?”
While it might have seemed silly a short time ago consider an electronic server as an essential, or at least a commonly found perk, at a restaurant and other places of business, it’s simply a matter of commerce catching up with itself. Not only is it uncommon for me to ask if an establishment or office has WiFi and get a strange look or indignant “no” response, it’s bad for business.
I’m not sure how we got to a place where we were tethered to smartphones that really weren’t mainstream until well after President Obama took office, but there’s no turning back now. Statistics about the popularity of certain apps or location-based services might still be helpful. But I’ve quit paying attention to what percentage of various demographics (or the world population) have smartphones — it’s simply the way most of us communicate, work and play.
It’s not even limited to entertainment-hungry Americans, and it isn’t really a first-world problem. A thorough recent study showed one in three Filipinos said they absolutely couldn’t live without a smartphone for more than one day.
While smartphones are a great way to get work done, save gas and drive time, network with friends and family, make an awesome video of Newton schoolchildren doing something amazing, the recreational side of phones means we are spending even more time on them. I try to not get sucked into games, but every few days or so, I give in to the temptations of the likes of 8-Ball Pool and Words With Friends (playing against foes who don’t cheat, of course).
Not only do I need to minimize my overall screen time for health purposes, it’s not like there’s a shortage of things to do. Even with the items or activities replaced by the smartphone, I’m at a loss to explain how I get even the basics in life completed, yet somehow, like magic, it happens.
It’s not really about how anyone feels about their phones, or whether there’s a psychological dependence. In fact, tech companies and their marketing teams don’t care about that, either; LG actually has a serious-sounding “Low Battery Anxiety” advertising campaign, describing a syndrome of fearful symptoms that can only be treated by buying a quick-replace battery.
It’s also not about how device-savvy each one of us portends to be, or even if we really are tech geniuses. The phones seem to be tough to put down whether owned by a software developer or engineer or a novice like myself — someone who bought his first smartphone in 2012 and had never heard of Chromebooks until discovering those were in use in the Newton Community School District.
Video games were not part of my household growing up — which is why it’s strange smartphone games would captivate the same person. Mom bought an Atari 2600 for Christmas in 1982, and after us three kids burned out on the six cartridge games that came with it and spring weather took us outside to play, the 2600 got packed up, and our requests to get a 5200 model were ignored.
Maybe the days of being entertained have returned in the semi-proactive sense. However, there are still non-electronic ways to be informed and entertained — and balanced.
Contact Jason W. Brooks
at jbrooks@newtondailynews.com