We're starting to reclaim the spaces the iPhone conquered
I like to play a game on the subway where I look around
and try to find someone not on their phone. I like seeing a person
reading a book, or, in an ultimate win, someone staring into space
without headphones. It’s a rare find.
These check-ins remind me that we, as a society, rely on
our phones to distract and entertain us. Yet still, even as a
hyper-aware person, I can’t even force myself to get off my own iPhone
while riding the train. I try, but always think of something I have to
do immediately: reply to an email, respond to my friend’s text,
double-check a date in my calendar, read an article, adjust my music.
Apparently everyone has something to do, too. In the 10 years since the
iPhone debuted, it’s slowly eaten our personal space. Few places exist
without cell service or Wi-Fi. We’re connected in locations that once
seemed far removed from the busyness of the world, like on subways,
airplanes, and cruise ships. NASA even sent iPhones into space.
I groaned when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced
that all New York City subway stations would get Wi-Fi and cell
connectivity this year. The subway once served as my retreat away from
the phone. Nearly seven months after that service expansion, the system
isn’t completely canvassed. I notice that people look up in between
stations, where service remains spotty. Still, the MTA is actively
trying to get those tiny unconnected chunks to disappear. Everywhere is
slowly connecting.
After a decade of unstopped insurgence — the result of which left 34 percent
of people finding it difficult to take a break from technology even
when they know they should — tech companies and businesses are
responding to the iPhone invasion. We’re reclaiming our space. And like
all good stories, it starts at the clubs. Parties, like Mister Saturday Night,
ban phones from the dance floor because its hosts want the dance floor
to be “a place where everyone can be in the moment.” Permanent clubs,
including Schimanski in Brooklyn, New York, sometimes put stickers over
attendees’ phone cameras. Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern attended
a party where she was forced to put her phone in a bag until the end of
the night. Mandatory disconnecting might be niche, but up until
recently, it wasn’t something that needed to be addressed.
Even Apple is acknowledging its devices’ conquering of
space. With software like Night Shift, the company recognized that most
users take their phones into their bedrooms with them in the evening,
and it isn’t entirely healthy for their sleep cycle. At its Worldwide
Developers Conference a few weeks ago, Apple also introduced “Do Not Disturb While Driving,”
a new feature that has your phone auto-reply to messages when it
detects that you’re driving. Where notifications once popped up on your
lock screen, there will be darkness. The screen will get literally
blacked out while you drive. (Samsung released similar software earlier
this year.)
Car companies are working to block cell signals, too. Nissan unveiled
its solution, which turned out to be an armrest that’s actually a
Faraday cage. We let iPhones come into our cars to the point that
companies had to respond, and now, we’re getting that space back — or at
least the driver is.
Of course, for people who can’t seem to find a space that
isn’t connected, there’s always extreme retreats, which have existed
for a few years. These experiences often involve paying a high fee,
driving out to the woods, and relinquishing your phone. On its main page
advertising its trips, Digital Detox writes:
“Participants gain insight into personal lifestyle techniques and
practices that keep them grounded and connected even in the most
stressed, overwhelming, and technologically driven times.” Hotels also
offer similar getaways, often billed as the key step to relaxation. The
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group offers
a digital detox package in which guests are told to turn over their
phones and then take time to journal, meditate, or color. Crystals are
involved, and an hour session costs more than $200.
Even Arianna Huffington is selling a damn phone bed,
or a literal bed for your phone. The description for it says: “By
giving our phones their own bed, we can say goodnight to our day and get
the sleep we need to wake up fully recharged.” It’s a silly solution
but Huffington is trying. I give her credit. Hardware companies are
responding, too, with distraction-less phones that address time-sucking apps.
Ten years after its launch, the iPhone shows no sign of
going away. As we let our iPhones into more and more of our lives and
spaces, however, it might be time to think about whether we need them
there in that moment.
A retreat might be over the top, but looking up on the subway isn’t so hard to do
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