smartphone pervasiveness

content/post/2024/04/remakes-and-remasters-of-old-dos-games.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Let me know if I missed big ones. Wikipedia houses a [game engine re-creations](
 - **Day of the Tentacle**: [Remastered edition](https://www.gog.com/en/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered) on GOG/Steam.
 - **Alone in the Dark**: [Reimagining](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310410/Alone_in_the_Dark/) on Steam, [Free In the Dark](https://github.com/yaz0r/FITD) source port on GitHub.
 - **Another World**: [HD 20th Anniversary Edition](https://store.steampowered.com/app/233550/Another_World__20th_Anniversary_Edition/) on Steam
-- **Leisure Suit Larry**: [Reloaded](https://www.gog.com/en/game/leisure_suit_larry_reloaded) is a complete remake of the first episode.
+- **Leisure Suit Larry**: [Reloaded](https://www.gog.com/en/game/leisure_suit_larry_reloaded) is a complete remake of the first episode with some new elements and modern replacements of original characters.
 - **Gabriel Knight**: [Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Ed.](https://www.gog.com/en/game/gabriel_knight_sins_of_the_fathers_20th_anniversary_edition) on GOG
 - _Simon the Sorcerer_: [25th Anniversary Edition](https://www.gog.com/en/game/simon_the_sorcerer) versions with some interesting additions
 - **System Shock**: [Nightdive's 2023 masterful remake](https://www.gog.com/en/game/system_shock) was a critically acclaimed hit

content/post/2024/04/smartphone-pervasiveness.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+---
+title: "Smartphone Pervasiveness"
+date: 2024-04-15T16:25:00+02:00
+categories:
+  - braindump
+---
+
+Or should that be _invasiveness_? Persuasiveness? It's no longer a distraction, [it's an addiction](https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-state-of-the-culture-2024), it's everywhere, and its aggressive promotion and passive acceptance is driving me crazy. 
+
+I'm walking around on campus where students don't look up while walking but down---desperately trying to catch every single glimpse of their backlit screen. Its usage in and around classrooms [is detrimental to their learning](/post/2023/10/chatgpt-is-worse-for-students-than-stack-overflow/). 
+
+I'm trying to order dinner at a restaurant but can't find the menu unless [I scan a QR code](/post/2022/06/the-modern-qr-code-life/) while I purposely left my phone at home to enable social interaction, not massive distraction. 
+
+I receive emails [written in smartphone-mode](/post/2024/01/email-etiquette/) where not only questions are barely understandable thanks to hip abbreviations but punctuation and correct addressing guidelines seemed to never have existed. _Sent from iPhone. Please excuse typos and brevity_.
+
+I browse through paper ads---you know, the ones dumped in your _real_ mailbox---and again have to pull out my phone because leaflets are too lazy to put in opening hours or details and instead simply [print QR codes](/post/2022/03/an-ad-leaflet-qr-design-mistake/) with redirect links that have a 99% chance of fingerprinting.
+
+I put on a local soap show and literally have to watch people typing away on their smartphone while an overlay interface for the viewer sees their texts. Then, during a break, I have to watch ads for faster and always-on internet and 5G mobile networks, because, 100% connectivity is what we all want. Bed sheet ads end with a woman in bed seemingly happily scrolling away to promote their always-open webshop. Food ordering services want you to install their app because their users have clearly become happier, snappier, and can manage more in life. 
+
+I want to take the bus to the station but don't know their schedule. App, right? Or QR code? Why not both, as long as we make sure that the printed information on the bus stops is out of date so that people who actually use that service are confused. 
+
+I walk around in a store but people keep on bumping into me, mumbling _sorry!_ because they prefer watching YouTube videos and scrolling through _Yet Another Social Media Feed_ instead of just being present and trying to avoid collision with others. 
+
+I bike to work and have to listen to school kids' boom boxes a.k.a. their smartphones. That's not so bad (depending on the music), right? What about texting and biking next to the local canal? Or what about scrolling and speedy e-biking? 
+
+I talk to colleagues at the water cooler but halfway the conversation the colleague keeps on looking at the time giving me the impression that I'm boring them. Of course that watch is a smart watch and that incoming event is more important than actually talking to people. _You were saying?_ Never mind. I can't count the number of conversations I've had with distracted people thanks to their "smart" things.
+
+I try to facilitate a meeting and see people alternating between trying very hard to focus and pay attention, and the next minute digging up their smartphone from their pockets and scrolling. When I ask them a question, they might put it aside for a moment, but the answer is never a qualitative one. 
+
+I wonder out loud what kind of weather it would be tomorrow, or who that actor of that film we're watching worked with before. Before I know it, someone has looked up the answer and proudly presented me the result. My wondering wasn't looking for answers but just wondering, but clearly, the instant _Let Me Google That For You_ feedback system is more important. 
+
+I walk the dog and cross other dogs---happily sniffling and looking around---and their owners---depressingly scrolling on their phones because of course you can't leave that device unattended at home for fifteen minutes. 
+
+I take the stairs connecting the garage and the office spaces at work and cross people with their hands completely fused with their phones, refusing to let go in order to more easily open the door. A few minutes later, I cross them again at the coffee machine, still clutching onto their oversized gadget like Tolkien's Gollum and his precious. 
+
+I propose to go to a new restaurant and want to let the menu surprise me but find my companions partially ruining the fun by immediately retrieving the menu online thanks to their super-connected phone and ridiculous data usage subscriptions.
+
+I want to read a book and see my wife scrolling on her phone without paying attention to the TV, who, as soon as I reach for the remote to turn it off and have a bit of head space, starts complaining that she really _was_ watching that show. 
+
+I stop at a red light on the way to the supermarket and notice other drivers next to me automatically reaching for their phones because they have two seconds to spare that apparently absolutely need to be spend on more distraction/addiction feeding. 
+
+I want to sell toys our daughter no longer plays with on an online second hand market platform but regularly fail to close the deal because others expect me to answer within 2 minutes while I check the platform once or twice a day, preferably without using the app. 
+
+---
+
+I hate this digital world we're suddenly living in.