CELL PHONE-ITIS & OTHER THINGS I HAVE GOTTEN TIRED OF ... HOW ABOUT YOU?

Cell Phone-itis:



What is wrong with everyone?

It's like half of our population has been drugged and cannot walk a foot without the blue light of their phone screen guiding them.

Follow me, follow me, it whispers.

Glassy-eyed, they march along the pavements glued to their social network like the Walking Dead. 

How many times a day do you check your smartphone?

According to the Mobile Mindset Study conducted by security app Lookout,

 58 percent of U.S. smartphone owners check their phones at least every hour -- and a large share check their phones while in bed or in the bathroom.
What were once considered bad behaviors have now become social norms,

according to the following statistics (though that doesn't mean they're not annoying):

When at a meal with someone else, 30 percent of participants say they check their phones.

      Think that's bad? Forty percent check their phones on the toilet.

When driving, 24 percent admit to checking their phones.

During a religious service at a house of worship, 9 percent of participants check their phones.  

One of the tragedies of this phonophilia is surely that people just don't like looking each other in the eye any more.

They're far more comfortable typing their news -- especially bad news -- over a phone.

They dump their lovers by text. Or, if they're still deeply in love with them --

but just can't get over their fears that they themselves are not quite good enough -- they'll use the Skype app or FaceTime.

They persuade themselves that if they type into a screen, their feelings will be more accurate and more thoughtful.

They feel sure that, if they hurt the other person, they won't actually have to see their tears.

THE WALKING DEAD --


When the series killed the mother, Laurie, (having her young son shoot her after giving birth to his baby sister) ...

I just went:  "Seriously?" 

I stopped watching then but my co-workers dragged me to the lastest episode.

Now they have this Terminus (yeah, like that's not a foreboding name for a sanctuary or anything?) plotline --

Plus did you catch a glimpse of what Mary (Denise Crosby) was cooking when Glenn, Maggie and company first arrived at Terminus?! 

Alice Wentworth and I don't know about you, but that looked like an arm on the grill to us!

Even actor, Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes asked the creators of the show if they weren't going a little too far in the finale.


GAMES OF THRONES --


My friends knowing how much I like fantasy insisted I watch an episode of it.  It was RED WEDDING ...

and red did not refer to the wine! 

I am definitely a dinosaur entertainment-wise.  Obviously, thoughtful, clever plots are a thing of the past.  Only CGI, sex, and gore need apply.

SELFIES --


Our culture has plainly gotten something wrong with it.

The selfie craze has gotten out of hand.

It started as a bit of fun but now turns out to be a descent into heartless self-obsession and inane photophilia that turns a perfectly normal-looking individual

into a cold Warholian observer of death and disaster, whose only reaction to another's pain is to take a picture of herself in front of the scene she chanced on.

And is that a smile she's cracking?

Really?

Adolescent pop poppet Justin Bieber constantly Tweets photos of himself with his shirt off to the shrieking delight of his huge online following.

Rihanna has treated her fans to Instagrammed selfies of her enjoying the view at a strip club, of her buttocks barely concealed by a tiny denim thong and of her posing with two oversize cannabis joints while in Amsterdam.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian overshares to the extent that, in March, she posted a picture of her own face covered in blood after undergoing a so-called "vampire facial."

In the same month, the selfie-obsessed model and actress Kelly Brook banned herself from posting any more of them (her willpower lasted two hours.)

But if selfies are simply an exercise in recording private memories and charting the course of our lives,

then why do we feel such a pressing need to share them with hundreds and thousands of friends and strangers online?

It is a puzzlement to me.

Most teenage girls do not like the reflection the mirror shows them on a daily basis, yet they are confident enough to take a selfie and post for all the internet to see.

Back in the day, only superstars or famous people were noticed.

Today, social media which allows other users to like or comment on postings has made it quick and easy for the ordinary person to fish for compliments.

To some, the selfie has become the ultimate symbol of the narcissistic age. Its instantaneous nature encourages superficiality.

Research shows that there’s a direct relationship between how many selfies you share on social media and how close your friends feel to you.

There are many possible explanations for this finding, including the self-portrait artist looking or being self-absorbed or lonely or lacking the social skills to know when to say when.

In our Peacock Culture, selfies seem as natural as the LOOK AT ME! or BUY MY BOOK! tweets on Twitter.

Speaking of which --


CONSTANT SELF-PROMOTION ON TWITTER --


As an Indie author myself, I understand authors have to promote/market their books/ebooks to get sales,

but how often do you actually click on a Twitter, Facebook, Goodread, etc., link to a book/ebook?

Are you tired of seeing millions of authors promoting their works on social media and simply dismiss promotions on social media?

Do you click on one in ten book/ebook promotions?

One in a hundred? One in a million?

Never click on a book/ebook promo because you're sick and tired of seeing them pop up all the time?

  I occasionally tweet about my books, but I’m convinced no one pays any attention. 

Most likely, my messages blend with all the others in the endless clutter of promotional tweets vying for people’s attention.

How do you promote your work?

How often have you seen "Blah blah blah buy this book" or "Available for free on Amazon for X days only" and just bypassed it?