Once again, this will be a two part post. That means that I get about eight minutes now, and then seven minutes to rant later.
So today's topic is about smart phones and how they are contributing to the death of people's social skills in Korea. I haven't spent a ton of time in the United States, so my testimony wouldn't be entirely accurate if I included it in here as well.
I can say as a fact from my few days in Bulgaria that the fine people of Sofia hardly know what smart phones are. I mean that in the way that not many of those people can afford them so they don't dig themselves into debt trying to have like everyone else. Instead they choose to have face-to-face time with their friends. That means going to the park drinkin' beer, and having real conversations without checking to see who is texting them every five or ten minutes. I have been that guilty party, and still am when I sit at home some nights, in regards to the constant checking for imaginary messages concept.
Now back to Korea. I probably spend about two hours on subways going to different places each week in this city. There's probably an hour that I usually spend on buses as well. That's just the ride from church all the way back home, but it's nice and relaxing and I don't have to walk up and down stairs, like I do at the subway stations.
During those few hours of riding public transportation in Daegu, Korea, I am amazed at how few faces that I make contact with. No, I'm not trying to throw "the wink" at every woman on the subway or bus, or give the "death stare" to anyone who stares at me for a prolonged period of time. Usually the buses or subways are both full when I ride them. As I ride the subways, I often find myself counting the number of people who have their heads buried in their phones, chatting away on Kakao Talk, checking their Facebook, or watching a baseball game. I would estimate that 50% of those folks ride for twenty minutes without even lifting their face.
One of the reasons that this upsets me, is that when elderly folks are walking around looking for a seat, not a single soul will notice, or even consider standing up and letting someone more deserving have their seat. Unless I'm in a rare mood, I usually make myself get up, and give up my seat. I'm not looking for brownie points, but I know as a fine Southern American man, that the comfort of others is more important that mine at times.
Some of my friends are constantly nagging and nagging me about how they can improve their English speaking skills. Now back for the last five minutes. Well, I tell them put down your phones for a few minutes and concentrate on improving your communication skills. It is very easy to be able to speak a language to someone when you are constantly sending them messages across your mobile messengers, twitter, or Facebook accounts, especially when you can use check Google translate (which isn't all that great at times, grammar-wise).
I have been out with some people, mostly younger ones, and there was hardly any eye contact made during the conversations. Two girls that I consider little Korean sisters are prime examples -- they spend time constantly sending message across their Kakao Talk or Facebook accounts to their friends, and barely make conversation with me as well. Koreans won't hesitate to use their phones to take random pictures of themselves anywhere and everywhere though. I even laugh at how many people on the subways use their phones as mirrors, and it isn't for a minute or two, it is almost as if they do not even use a mirror anymore.
I have had dinner with a few women (not sure about the guy friends) that will take their phones out to see if they have food on their faces. The main reason that I rant about this cause is that Koreans spend a ton of time working, and studying, and they are very competitive people. But when they spend so much time with their faces glued to a little screen making countless conversations per day, and make little eye contact with people where exactly are their interpersonal skills going?
Like I said, I do not really know how it is in other countries, and I admit the fault that I have sometimes of paying too much attention to emails or messages on my iPod, and iPad. I find myself improving on this though quite a bit, and spending more time paying attention to people or other important aspects of life. Heck, I even went five weeks without Facebook earlier in the Fall season.
So today's topic is about smart phones and how they are contributing to the death of people's social skills in Korea. I haven't spent a ton of time in the United States, so my testimony wouldn't be entirely accurate if I included it in here as well.
I can say as a fact from my few days in Bulgaria that the fine people of Sofia hardly know what smart phones are. I mean that in the way that not many of those people can afford them so they don't dig themselves into debt trying to have like everyone else. Instead they choose to have face-to-face time with their friends. That means going to the park drinkin' beer, and having real conversations without checking to see who is texting them every five or ten minutes. I have been that guilty party, and still am when I sit at home some nights, in regards to the constant checking for imaginary messages concept.
Now back to Korea. I probably spend about two hours on subways going to different places each week in this city. There's probably an hour that I usually spend on buses as well. That's just the ride from church all the way back home, but it's nice and relaxing and I don't have to walk up and down stairs, like I do at the subway stations.
During those few hours of riding public transportation in Daegu, Korea, I am amazed at how few faces that I make contact with. No, I'm not trying to throw "the wink" at every woman on the subway or bus, or give the "death stare" to anyone who stares at me for a prolonged period of time. Usually the buses or subways are both full when I ride them. As I ride the subways, I often find myself counting the number of people who have their heads buried in their phones, chatting away on Kakao Talk, checking their Facebook, or watching a baseball game. I would estimate that 50% of those folks ride for twenty minutes without even lifting their face.
One of the reasons that this upsets me, is that when elderly folks are walking around looking for a seat, not a single soul will notice, or even consider standing up and letting someone more deserving have their seat. Unless I'm in a rare mood, I usually make myself get up, and give up my seat. I'm not looking for brownie points, but I know as a fine Southern American man, that the comfort of others is more important that mine at times.
Some of my friends are constantly nagging and nagging me about how they can improve their English speaking skills. Now back for the last five minutes. Well, I tell them put down your phones for a few minutes and concentrate on improving your communication skills. It is very easy to be able to speak a language to someone when you are constantly sending them messages across your mobile messengers, twitter, or Facebook accounts, especially when you can use check Google translate (which isn't all that great at times, grammar-wise).
I have been out with some people, mostly younger ones, and there was hardly any eye contact made during the conversations. Two girls that I consider little Korean sisters are prime examples -- they spend time constantly sending message across their Kakao Talk or Facebook accounts to their friends, and barely make conversation with me as well. Koreans won't hesitate to use their phones to take random pictures of themselves anywhere and everywhere though. I even laugh at how many people on the subways use their phones as mirrors, and it isn't for a minute or two, it is almost as if they do not even use a mirror anymore.
I have had dinner with a few women (not sure about the guy friends) that will take their phones out to see if they have food on their faces. The main reason that I rant about this cause is that Koreans spend a ton of time working, and studying, and they are very competitive people. But when they spend so much time with their faces glued to a little screen making countless conversations per day, and make little eye contact with people where exactly are their interpersonal skills going?
Like I said, I do not really know how it is in other countries, and I admit the fault that I have sometimes of paying too much attention to emails or messages on my iPod, and iPad. I find myself improving on this though quite a bit, and spending more time paying attention to people or other important aspects of life. Heck, I even went five weeks without Facebook earlier in the Fall season.
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