Have we gone off the deep end?
A woman in Australia was filmed scrolling through her phone while swimming laps in the pool, sparking fears that humanity’s tech addiction might’ve reached the point of no return.
The clip, shared to social media by popular meme page Brown Cardigan, starts off innocuously enougH, with swimmers enjoying the water at the picturesque Bondi Icebergs pool in Sydney.
That’s when the camera zooms in on the swimmer in question, who is seen casually browsing her device while doing the backstroke in one of the lanes.
The clip concludes with the multitasker holding the phone straight above her as if filming or taking a selfie during her swim.
“Good to see people just being in the moment, maximizing their screen time, never not being online and oversharing every possible minute of their lives,” read the caption.
Commenters seemed to concur that our smartphone obsession had reached a tipping point.
“There’s no coming back from where we are as a species,” lamented one critic.
Another wrote, “This may be the most dystopian thing I’ve ever seen.”
“The world has gone crazy!!” said a third. “Put the phone down and live in the real world stop existing only online!!”
“POV: you’re addicted to your phone but also to the beach life,” quipped one wit.
The swimmer’s aquatic smartphone session is just the latest example of the tech addiction epidemic sweeping the globe.
According to Addictionhelp.com, a staggering 250 million people suffer from social media addiction.
Along with being depressing and antisocial, the perennial phone fixation can lead to a host of issues, including mood swings, disrupted sleep, neglected responsibilities, desire for validation and a lack of hobbies.
The youth aren’t immune to Smartphone-induced symptoms either.
A study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics found that people who owned cellphone before the age of 12 were more likely to develop depression, obesity and poor sleep habits compared to those who didn’t.
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