"The World is Phonetastic"

Sadly realised from different trips all around the globe.

Welcome to a world where IOs has replaced brain, emoji has replaced emotion and battery has replaced hearth beat. We first thought that internet would connect people and it is what happened in the beginning but quickly when people are busy on internet they are disconnected from the real world. Everyone knows this situation where a group of friends have a drink and some of them or in the worst case everyone is staring at their phones, checking friend’s status and private messages. Few days ago I experienced a freaky adventure. I was on Gili Trawangan and from time to time power goes off for few hours. In the youth hostel where I stayed I was seating with a group of 8 people. We were chatting, sharing stories , nice moment that we had. Then the fan started to work again that meant that the power was back. Instantly when people realized that the wifi was on again, they grabbed their phones and started to compulsively check their social media profile and private messages. No more talking, no more stories, only a weird silence for company. This is the backpacker experience in 2015, the purpose to go far from home is to experience things, to meet people and learn about stories that you heard. I can understand that people need to check family news or to book a flight but you can do it during your grumpy morning hours and then just let it go. Never forget that people’s stories will always be more powerful than a post on a timeline. Next time when you are in a bar, a café, look around you and count how many people are checking their phones and try to talk with them, you will see. They are not checking their phones because they don’t want to talk, it is because they are scared to do so. Just go for it and give back to humans a bit of their humanity