I’ve been listening to an audio bible in the mornings as I commute to work. As I travel, I realise that the entire train cabin is looking at their phones. This has happened so many times, to the point where I find it surprising if someone is not looking at their phone. I stand there listening to a really dramatic reading of Psalms (a book of poetry and song), and observe the bowed heads of everyone just in their own little worlds, in the palm of their hands.
Because of that, I wanted to intentionally not use my phone on the train, but instead to do something else. It became a little awkward to stare at people’s demeanors as they blocked their way on our MRTs in Singapore, so I just read, or play games on my handheld emulators.
In some ways, its not that different. I am still looking at a screen. I am still in a world of my own too. But in other ways, its the most different thing in the world because its so disconnected from everyone else.
Palm sized smart phones bring us and connect us to our work, our travel, our life goals and dreams maybe. But an e-ink device is just not. It’s still a book, but in a digital form. The same goes for the handheld emulators. It’s something else. Its an old game, remembering the times before. Digital too, but just disconnected.
During one of the rides, someone actually stopped me and asked me what was I playing. I thought they meant the game, so I said, Pokemon Jupiter. The person said, “No, I meant the device” I told him about my own device, the Ambernic RG 35XX, and the other device that one could find, the Miyoo Mini. I also directed the person towards AliExpress, where I got mine at a good discount.
So maybe the disconnected do connect people, but in an old fashioned way of just talking face to face.