Smartphones are making us dumber
From the way people behave on the MRT, on buses, at coffee shops, restaurants, in parks, or on sidewalks, one would think that Taiwan had been hit by a zombie infestation well before the release of summer zombie blockbuster World War Z. Everywhere one turns, they are there, walking about in a daze, sitting comatose, completely oblivious to their surroundings and absorbed in their smartphones, their insect-like fingers tapping and sliding furiously.
Hailed just a few years ago as a great technological advance, the smartphone has since turned into an instrument that has made the general population more dumb, less attentive, asocial and disconnected from reality.
Like gunpowder or nuclear energy, the device is not intrinsically evil and contains the potential for good, provided that it is used wisely. Unfortunately, with alarming frequency, the smartphone is used not to enhance intelligence or as a tool of convenience, but as a means of distraction that is rapidly turning a lot of people into mindless creatures.
Observe these smartphone zombies in action, see them ignore spouses and friends at restaurants, blithely occupy seats reserved for the elderly or pregnant women on the MRT, or stop abruptly at the top or bottom of escalators, making collisions all but inevitable. This sudden stopping happens so frequently now as to have become a national hazard, which perhaps calls for the passing of new regulations.
The majority of these zombies are mind-numbingly zapping alien creatures as they cascade down the touchscreen, growing batches of pixelated mushrooms, bursting multicolored bubbles, lobbing feathered balls at oinking piglets, or typing text messages to friends or lovers detailing what they had for lunch or relating the latest office gossip.
The long-term physical and psychological consequences of this mass addiction to tablets and smartphones cannot bode well for humanity. Fueled by the ceaseless launching of ever more powerful phones with larger screens, faster processors and alluring new features, this plague is further alienating people from each other and widening the space between the individual, the community and the external world.
People do not read books anymore, an activity that encourages development and fuels the imagination, nor do they engage in meaningful conversation, look at the stimulating environment around them, or engage in artistic creation. Their entire world seems contained in that rectangular screen from which they derive and learn nothing. These zombies are killing time, unaware that they are killing their brain cells and brain-limb coordination too. Aside from the exercising of fingers, no good comes from this slavish use of smartphones.
There are plenty of ways to pass time and while the brain does need rest, there are much more constructive ways of relaxing the mind than losing oneself in a small LCD screen. It would be interesting to see an image of a person’s brain activity as they while away hours on these devices. In all likelihood, brain activity would be at a minimum and probably becomes less pronounced over long and sustained exposure to this technological opiate. In other words, using smartphones makes people stupid. How many hours, days, months is one willing to sacrifice to this evil electronic god, this bane of humanity?
If only for the sheer desire to experience the wonders of the world in the short amount of time one is given to do so, people should put down their smartphones and relearn how to engage with their surroundings by reading, doing photography, listening to music, playing an instrument, riding a bicycle, or, sacrilege, having a meaningful, face-to-face conversation with someone.
The US Senate’s passage of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which urges Taiwan’s inclusion in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise and allocates US$1 billion in military aid, marks yet another milestone in Washington’s growing support for Taipei. On paper, it reflects the steadiness of US commitment, but beneath this show of solidarity lies contradiction. While the US Congress builds a stable, bipartisan architecture of deterrence, US President Donald Trump repeatedly undercuts it through erratic decisions and transactional diplomacy. This dissonance not only weakens the US’ credibility abroad — it also fractures public trust within Taiwan. For decades,
In 1976, the Gang of Four was ousted. The Gang of Four was a leftist political group comprising Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members: Jiang Qing (江青), its leading figure and Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) last wife; Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋); Yao Wenyuan (姚文元); and Wang Hongwen (王洪文). The four wielded supreme power during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), but when Mao died, they were overthrown and charged with crimes against China in what was in essence a political coup of the right against the left. The same type of thing might be happening again as the CCP has expelled nine top generals. Rather than a
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
A Reuters report published this week highlighted the struggles of migrant mothers in Taiwan through the story of Marian Duhapa, a Filipina forced to leave her infant behind to work in Taiwan and support her family. After becoming pregnant in Taiwan last year, Duhapa lost her job and lived in a shelter before giving birth and taking her daughter back to the Philippines. She then returned to Taiwan for a second time on her own to find work. Duhapa’s sacrifice is one of countless examples among the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who sustain many of Taiwan’s households and factories,
RSS