The party in your pocket.

I run out of credit on my phone sometimes.
I'm a rarity in Generation Y, and in fact a rarity in the under-50 middle class generally, I believe, in that I don't have a mobile phone contract.

It actually frustrates me when some people have them. People who can't afford taxis home after nights out, or people who complain constantly on Facebook about being poor. But anyway.

I don't have a contract for my mobile phone for a variety of reasons. One is that getting a contract would inevitably mean getting a 'smart-phone' and I don't want that for a variety of reasons. But until last night I found it difficult to articulate those reasons. Then last night I watched "Books: The Last Chapter" on the BBC.

I've got a few opinions on the show too, but just for the moment we'll leave them behind. But there was an author who was asked why he disconnected himself from the Internet and technology. I'm going to paraphrase what he said, with my own take:

Imagine that all your friends are at a party, and they are inviting you, constantly. It becomes very difficult to say no. Now imagine that the party is going on all the time, and the party is in your pocket. Through your smart-phone you are continuously connected to he party. And everyone's invited to the party, not just your friends, but your family, and your acquaintances and your enemies.

How can you pay attention to what's going on around you? How can you work productively? How can you gain intellectual stimulation? You become so concentrated on the party in your pocket that you neglect real life.

Don't tell me it doesn't happen because I see people doing it.