Think outside the …phone!

It is not just a simple, harmless toy.

In a fictional dystopian tale, a small group of powerful and evil men, decide to devise a plan to control the planet. They understand soon enough that in order to reach their goal it is necessary to control people and to better control them, it is necessary to be able to reach them one by one with an effective and pounding communication. So personalized and subtle as to be almost invisible to the mass and, nevertheless, strongly persuasive and convincing. All this, of course, without the knowledge of the people themselves. How to do?

It is a big problem. Initially, an attempt is made to establish ruthless dictatorships but the yearning for freedom is too strong. Then they try the press, set up several newspapers and control their publishers. But even this path fails, just as radio, TV and the whole telecommunications sector fail. Years pass without the proposed solutions giving acceptable results. When, now discouraged, they are about to abandon their plan, a new idea arrives: we give them a new electronic toy. A kind of portable phone that also makes use of images (mostly self-taken photos and cat footage) and music.

It works great: in a few years the toy multiplies in increasingly captivating versions and a significant percentage of humanity uses it on a daily base, sharing confidential aspects and intimate news in public. In private the new toy is able to trace your position, to listen to your voice, to know if you run or walk, if you sleep or are awake. It can monitor your heart beat and take note of your health. Moreover, all the data that it does collect, you need not to worry: they safely stored elsewhere, in good hands.

Soon enough, the fun toy realizes, almost for fun, the dream of all the secret services: to have direct and unfiltered access 24/7 to billions of people. Ready and willing to provide information about their religious, political and economic thoughts, available to be reached individually to be advised, influenced and, ultimately, directed.

And all this because of a simple and harmless toy, practically child’s play.

Out of metaphor: we are fortunate that there is simply not a single group of evil men. In reality there are many and with different degrees of evil, often competing with each other.

The teaching that is drawn from it, however, remains valid all the same: try to think outside your mobile phone. Talk to people, take classes, read books, browse newspapers, visit museums, go to concerts. Make room for your thoughts and find way to express them: write a poem or a novel, paint, compose music, sing, dance and practice sports. If you think about it, there is a whole lot of things to do “outside your mobile phone”.

If you want to know more, you may be interested in: Analog society vs Digital society.

Ah, I forgot: you can read it on your mobile ;-)