I was out at a bar last night and found myself idly chatting with a girl - maybe about 18 - that night's love interest of a guy I knew who was DJ'ing that evening. He had dashed off to cue up the next song, so the girl and I were talking.
Ric's was packed, so we were standing quite close to one another; I was feeling festive and it seemed to me that the conversation was an interesting one, when, while I was in the middle of replying to something she'd asked, she pulled her phone out from her handbag (which was clutched at her chest), and began scrolling through Facebook.
Like a child who holds a torch beneath their chin to create a mask of garish shadows, her face lit ghoulish blue, and I was instantly and suddenly irate as her eyes darted to the damned device while she nodded her head and made agreeing noises in imitation of attention.
Now, it's not very often that I deliberately lie or mock people, but sometimes I just can't help myself, and before I knew what I was doing I said, "You know - they've just found out that the screens on phones cause eye cancer?"
Well that got her attention.
She snapped back to me and shrieked, "What?!"
Immediately, she dropped her phone back into her bag as if it were toxic waste.
"Oh my GAWD! I mean, like - is that the same how they cause radiation and stuff?! Because I knew about THAT - but EYE cancer? I can't even imagine how awful that would be! I always have it on speaker phone, y'know but like, EYE cancer? What do you even DO about that?"
I had to agree that I had no idea.
While I wanted to feel guilty for telling so obvious a lie, I just couldn't. And it wasn't so much the checking of the phone, it was the insidiousness of it - how she tried to make it unobtrusive; a swift little peep mid-conversation could be forgiven... so long as she maintained the facade that she was still listening.
The guy came back and they both left shortly after, but it amuses me to hope that every time she is tempted to check her phone, the possible dangers of such an action will spring to mind, and maybe she'll think twice.
Perhaps instead, she might realise that it's not that important, and allow herself to be a little more invested in what's going on around her.
Ric's was packed, so we were standing quite close to one another; I was feeling festive and it seemed to me that the conversation was an interesting one, when, while I was in the middle of replying to something she'd asked, she pulled her phone out from her handbag (which was clutched at her chest), and began scrolling through Facebook.
Like a child who holds a torch beneath their chin to create a mask of garish shadows, her face lit ghoulish blue, and I was instantly and suddenly irate as her eyes darted to the damned device while she nodded her head and made agreeing noises in imitation of attention.
Now, it's not very often that I deliberately lie or mock people, but sometimes I just can't help myself, and before I knew what I was doing I said, "You know - they've just found out that the screens on phones cause eye cancer?"
Well that got her attention.
She snapped back to me and shrieked, "What?!"
Immediately, she dropped her phone back into her bag as if it were toxic waste.
"Oh my GAWD! I mean, like - is that the same how they cause radiation and stuff?! Because I knew about THAT - but EYE cancer? I can't even imagine how awful that would be! I always have it on speaker phone, y'know but like, EYE cancer? What do you even DO about that?"
I had to agree that I had no idea.
While I wanted to feel guilty for telling so obvious a lie, I just couldn't. And it wasn't so much the checking of the phone, it was the insidiousness of it - how she tried to make it unobtrusive; a swift little peep mid-conversation could be forgiven... so long as she maintained the facade that she was still listening.
The guy came back and they both left shortly after, but it amuses me to hope that every time she is tempted to check her phone, the possible dangers of such an action will spring to mind, and maybe she'll think twice.
Perhaps instead, she might realise that it's not that important, and allow herself to be a little more invested in what's going on around her.