danger | msnarky

Story 48 of 52

By M. Snarky

You see it every single day here in Los Angeles: People staring at their smartphones while they are supposedly working, or while walking down the street with their dog, or while driving their car (as they dangerously weave between the lane lines), or while at a Taylor Swift concert. These people are usually completely oblivious to anything that is happening around them, and so it is apparent that smartphones are great at blocking out situational awareness, perhaps by design. These people will be the first ones to go during a zombie apocalypse, and when you think about it, they are already in a semi-zombie state anyway, so it isn’t much of a stretch.

More often than not, these same people also have their Bluetooth earbuds crammed into their ear canals as tight as possible so that they can listen to music, or podcasts, or news, or Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker audio books. It is my opinion that they are intentionally tuning out the world and living inside their own personal bubbles. They never respond to you when you say “Hello” as you cross paths (making them seem rude, cold, and indifferent). They don’t hear you when you yell “Watch out!” as they blindly step onto the street while staring at the screen of their smartphone and walk directly into the oncoming path of a speeding city bus—ironically throwing themselves under the bus.

Then again, maybe it’s best to let Darwinism take its course and not interfere with the natural laws of the universe.

The headlines speak for themselves, “Man dies while taking selfie in front of a bison bull.” “Man dies falling off of parking structure while playing Pokémon GO!” “Woman dies in car crash while sexting her boyfriend.” The list goes on and on. Does this imply that smartphones are deadly? No: It only proves that there are too many dumb people walking around amongst us.

I don’t believe that smartphones have truly made people any smarter than they were before smartphones were invented, in fact, I’ll argue that the opposite is true because this has been my experience. It amazes me that even with the entire knowledge and history of the world at their fingertips—knowledge and history that previously required people to either go to a local library or ask their grandparents if they may thumb their way through their latest Encyclopedia Britannica edition—people still believe that Elvis is alive; that the earth is flat; and that the moon landing was a hoax. Indeed, cognitive dissonance is alive and well in the U.S.

I do believe that too much Internet bandwidth is consumed by the millions of pointless, viral cat and TikTok related videos du jour instead of by people seeking knowledge or facts, both of which appear to be in short supply these days. The last time I checked, knowledge and facts are still tariff free, so there is no additional cost to obtain them…and yet they languish. Half-truths, untruths, myths, rumors, and outright lies seem to rule the day.

Now that smartphones have AI capabilities, I think this is only going to accelerate the dumbing down of Americans. It’s going to be interesting to see how it progresses. I used to believe that AI in its absolute sense was isolated to city, county, state, and federal government politicians, you know, the smartest people in the room—just ask any one of them—and you can see how that turned out for us. If you believe that AI is somehow going to save us, you may only be half right because AI also has the potential to destroy us. I sense that AI will end up doing both in an endless creative destruction cycle. Buckle up, kids.

If there is a dystopian AI controlled Tyrellian evil robot future on the horizon, people won’t even look up from their smartphone screens long enough to notice. The masses will be led to their demise by means of a viral, cleverly gamified extermination program in which all of the “accidents” will seem plausible. May I suggest starting with the ones who have the most daily screen time as they pose the most danger to society? Come to think of it, this gives doomscrolling an entirely new meaning. Just kidding—obviously, it should start with the politicians.

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Blog: https://msnarky.com

Story 25 of 52

By M. Snarky

They are angry when they walk,
tuning out the ambient voice of the city,
tuning out the world,
with their portable electronics,
that they cram into their ears,
or clamp over their heads,
which makes it look as if,
they are wearing earmuffs,
even in one-hundred-degree weather,
filling their heads with,
whatever echo chamber they have chosen,
one that reinforces their beliefs,
or their lack of belief,
and with complete indifference,
to the others around them,
never saying hello or hello back,
to the friendly passersby,
but always ready to shout,
at the guy on the bicycle,
who was yelling out to them, lookout!
as they step off the curb and into the crosswalk,
often against the traffic signal.

They are angry when they drive,
on the boulevard, on the highway, and on the interstate,
speeding and tailgating,
and running red lights,
and cutting people off,
while they smoke their dope and pop their pills,
and sometimes they kill people,
because they felt wronged by the person,
that flipped them off because of their reckless driving,
or who were actually driving the speed limit,
or just because they are running behind schedule,
and in a hurry to pick up their children from school,
or to pick up their Shih Tzu at the groomer before they close shop,
or to get to their therapists office on time,
to work on that anger problem.

They are angry at the supermarket,
often acting like the drivers,
grabby, sullen, and impatient,
as you take the time to check the ripeness of a watermelon,
or checking the expiration date on a piece of meat,
or checking the milk carton,
to see if you recognize,
the missing child printed on it,
or writing out a check for your groceries,
or ordering a sandwich at the deli counter,
and they are often guilty of blocking an aisle,
and they get all bent out of shape,
when you politely ask them to move their cart,
as if the request was the equivalent,
of asking them,
to move a mountain,
and they are often guilty of having,
more than fifteen items in the express checkout line,
because they are selfish, inconsiderate jerks.

They are angry at the airport,
which should be a happy place,
because they are taking a trip somewhere,
and they argue with the attendant checking in their bags,
who needs to charge an extra fee,
because their bag is overweight,
much like themselves,
and they argue with the TSA when they try to get through security,
with more than 3.4-ounces of anything,
like their ridiculous 32-ounce Stanley tumbler that is full of water,
or perhaps vodka,
that they have to dump out,
and they get surly with their fellow passengers who hold up the line,
to take all of 5-seconds,
to put their carry-on into the overhead bin.

All of these angry men and women,
walking and driving and shopping and traveling,
make this a dangerous city to live in,
because it is never certain what will make them snap,
or when they will snap,
but when they do,
you will hear about the insanity on the local evening news,
who will get the facts of the story mostly right,
or on the social media platforms,
where facts are apparently situational,
and often substituted for belief,
or conspiracies,
and you will see ten different storylines,
from ten different influencers,
about the exact same event,
the majority of which are opinions,
and not actual news,
and certainly not actual journalism.

I have decided not to get caught up in it,
caught up in the urban-borne anger of the others,
the anger bubbling just below the surface,
the anger that is ready to be unleashed,
at the mere whiff,
of an inconvenience,
or a perceived disrespect,
but will instead remind myself,
that there are happy people,
somewhere in this city,
that there are kind people,
somewhere in this city,
that there are good people,
somewhere in this city,
but they all must be sought out,
because they are nowhere in plain sight.

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