WEBVTT

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I can't quite remember
exactly when or where it was

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I first took a picture
of two people on their phones.

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But what I do recall
is how their perfect symmetry struck me.

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Two human beings locked simultaneously,
yet separately, in the same action:

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eyes down, faces lit up,
utterly still and silent.

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They completely mirrored each other.

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But normally, when that happens in life,
it means people are connected,

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but they weren't, they were disconnected.

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Side by side, yet they couldn't
have been further apart.

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It really appealed to me
on a visual level.

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But as I started
to photograph these people,

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I noticed they didn't even seem present.

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They were plugged in,
they were consumed by a digital domain.

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They were in the Matrix.

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They didn't have a cable
coming out of the back of their necks,

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and they couldn't learn jiujitsu
in a blink of an eye,

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but they were choosing to be
in a virtual world over the real world.

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This was something new,
a modern phenomenon.

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It was exciting and weird,
and I felt I had to document it.

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Mobile phones had obviously
been around for a while,

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and had already intruded upon our lives.

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But not to this extent,
not across the board.

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I never set out specifically
to photograph people on their phones -

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I just saw it everywhere,

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all the time, wherever I went.

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And the more pictures I took,
the more I saw.

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I saw friends withdrawing from each other,

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prioritizing their phone life
over their real life,

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without a thought or a concern
for those around them.

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I saw couples who could no longer
communicate - the dining dead -

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use it to fill the silence,

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to hide their lost connection.

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I saw shy people use it as a prop
to disguise their social awkwardness.

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I saw the rejection on people's faces
as they were superseded for a device.

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I saw all of this because -

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not just because I am a photographer,

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an observer, a voyeur
into the lives of others,

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but because it was happening
to me as well.

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I was surrounded by people
not talking to me.

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I just felt like saying,
"You're in company, act like it!

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Didn't we arrange to meet
so we could chat and hang out?

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Isn't it why we're here?"

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If there had been any etiquette in place

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for the use of mobile phones
in social situations,

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it had utterly disappeared.

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What I couldn't understand, though,
was why no one was talking about it.

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They just kind of ignored the fact
that it was happening.

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I just saw these people on their phones

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and I just felt, you know,
we should be talking to each other.

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I personally didn't want
a smartphone myself

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because I could see
how all-consuming they were.

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It was a can of worms
I didn't want to open.

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Problem was, pretty much
everyone else had.

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I was surrounded by worms

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and empty cans,

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but mainly by people on their smartphones.

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I was raised in an analogue era

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where, yes, if you wanted
to get ahold of someone,

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you had to phone a building
and hope they were in it.

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But maybe because I remember
time before mobile phones,

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I remembered that being out with people
used to be more... fun.

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By all means -

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look at your status update, your eBay bid,
Kim Kardashian's ass -

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(Laughter)

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whatever it is - please, be my guest.

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Just... do it on your own time.

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You know, if I wanted to sit in silence
and watch someone stare at a screen,

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I could have gone to the cinema.

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I guess I rather optimistically thought

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if I could just get
the pictures out there,

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I could maybe reflect
people's own behaviour back to them,

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and it might make them question
their own usage,

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I could start a discussion,
get a debate going.

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I thought maybe I'd get
a couple of re-tweets out of it

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at the very least.

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Nothing could've prepared me
for the reaction I got.

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I uploaded the gallery of photographs
which I entitled, rather morosely,

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"The Death of Conversation"
onto a website called Bored Panda,

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and it just went nuts.

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The pictures went viral,
and within a matter of days,

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were seen by millions of people
in every continent around the world.

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It was incredible to watch them spread
as far and as fast as they did.

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But the enormous global response,
from Bolivia to Bulgaria and back again,

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showed what a problem it'd become
in almost every society.

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The hundreds and hundreds of comments left

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on all the different websites,
in all the different countries

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actually revealed
a very similar experience.

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There were naturally those who were
defensive of their smartphone use.

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But a huge chunk thought it was damaging
and hurtful and so sad

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that this communications technology
was making us disconnect

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from each other in person.

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I wasn't the first person to take pictures
of people on their phones,

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but I think my pictures arrived at a time

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when people were just starting
to be fed up with it,

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and they mirrored
this largely unspoken feeling.

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Here are a few
of the more poignant remarks

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left on the Bored Panda website.

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"...people hardly talk
to each other now, it's sad,

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I used to be happier hanging out
with friends... but not anymore".

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"I see this everywhere.
Even my wife does this and it sucks.

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I try to be close to her
but that phone is always in my way".

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"I am looking at my husband
while he is scrolling down his phone,

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he has the same look on his face".

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"This is so depressing -
reminds me of lunch with my family!"

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Finally, "I feel the pain
in these photos...

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I very often am left alone
while in company".

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What these honest
and heartfelt comments showed

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was that this very modern experience
was making people genuinely miserable.

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And the source of their unhappiness
was being generated largely

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by the actions of their partners,
their friends, and their family.

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The Internet has brought people together
in the most incredible of ways.

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But face-to-face communication
and online communication

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are actually in conflict as they battle
for your attention and time.

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When you allow your device
to take precedence

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over the person you are with,

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you're essentially saying

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that whatever or whoever
you're interacting with on your phone

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is more important than them.

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It lowers their self-worth by default.

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There was a scientific study done
at the University of Essex

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by Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinstein,

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which showed that people bonded less
when their phones were visible.

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Just out on the table, not even in use.

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Imagine the effect they have
when people are actually on them.

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But what were people getting
from a machine

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that they couldn't get from a person?

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What was in here that wasn't out here?

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Most people turn to their phones

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to look at work e-mails
or to check social media.

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In either case, they are looking to see
if anyone has been in touch.

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These devices are satisfying
our narcissistic needs

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as we know that everything on them
somehow relates to us.

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The payoff is you get
a little shot of dopamine

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every time you get a notification.

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It makes you feel good.

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As I've said, I don't have a smartphone,

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but I do check Instagram
throughout the day on my iPad,

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looking for these little orange hearts.

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But whatever there is is never enough,

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and you're always left wanting more.

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These computer cuddles are, in fact,
a poor facsimile to the real thing.

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Compared to human hugs
they are like mp3 to vinyl,

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Skype to face-to-face chat.

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What was fascinating and somewhat ironic,

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is that people were turning their backs
on their loved ones,

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who could provide
actual physical affection,

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in favour of a digital approximation.

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We are emotional creatures,
and we need human to human contact.

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It is essential to our well-being.

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So why were people choosing
digital communication

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over its real-life counterpart?

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I think, for a lot of people these days,

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they find it less stressful
to interact by type than by talk.

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When you communicate online,

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you have time to think
about your response,

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you can deliver your best line,
be the ultimate version of yourself.

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This is very appealing compared
to the normal pressures of conversation.

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Face-to-face interactions
can be really tough sometimes,

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and often make people feel
anxious and awkward.

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In the UK, for example,

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we have a very simple solution
to deal with these feelings.

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It's called alcohol.

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(Laughter)

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And it's traditionally been
the go-to social prop for many.

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But now people were turning
to their smartphones also

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as a way to cope.

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The difference is,

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alcohol is a very effective
social lubricant - up to a certain point.

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(Laughter)

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But smartphones actually
exacerbate the problem

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as they allow people to withdraw
rather than engage.

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Before smartphones,
if a conversation dipped,

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you worked double time to get it rolling.

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And it was in these moments
you could maybe escape

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the horrors of small talk,

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and arrive at something
approaching genuine communication.

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That was when you bonded,
that was when the magic happened.

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These moments are being eroded
by our ability to turn to our devices.

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In Ruby Wax's book "Sane New World,"

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she explains the science
behind mindfulness,

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and how the key to happiness
is to live in the moment

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and to be truly present.

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These devices, they send
your focus elsewhere,

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and your enjoyment levels diminish,

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as you're not giving anything
or anyone your full attention.

NOTE Paragraph

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It is, in fact, our ability to multitask,

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which has not only been
greatly exaggerated,

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it is, in fact, a total fallacy.

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Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at MIT,

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proves that we are not capable
of processing two things at once.

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It's an illusion -

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all we are doing is switching rapidly
from one to the other.

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But you don't really need
scientific evidence.

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If you've ever tried to have
a conversation with someone

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whilst they're gazing into their phone,

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you will notice -
after a few "mm-hmm" and "uh-huh",

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it's pretty evident they're not listening.

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They are barely even know you're there.

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You could be on fire,
and they probably wouldn't notice.

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You could take a picture of yourself,
post it on Instagram,

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they might see and like it,
but they still would do nothing about it,

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because they themselves are not present.

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And so it would appear

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that these devices which were designed
to facilitate our lives

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are, in fact, affecting our relationships,

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our ability to communicate in person,

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and are an obstacle
to us living in the moment -

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all of which have been proven to be
the main sources of happiness in life.

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Smartphones are genuinely starting
to affect social cohesion.

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And if we do not learn
how to switch them off,

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we will become permanently
switched off from each other.

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So, what are the possible solutions?

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Well, in the aftermath
of my viral activity,

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I was contacted by various movements
such as FreeConvo,

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who organise impromptu events
to encourage people to meet face-to-face.

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They've had a fantastic response,

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and they now have meetings
happening all over the world.

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I had tech designers get in touch
to tell me they were designing apps

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to help restrict people's phone use.

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I had the owner of a restaurant
in Boston contact me

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to tell me he was so fed up with people
not talking in his establishment,

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he was offering free meals to anyone
who didn't use their phone at the table.

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Even a guy in New York got in touch

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to say that when him
and his friends get together,

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they all have to put
their phones in the middle,

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and the first person to go for theirs

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has to get the bill.

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(Laughter)

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We need more ideas like this
to help restrict phone use

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and establish some basic boundaries.

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The rise of the smartphone was rapid,

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and there simply wasn't time
to implement any social etiquette

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regarding their use.

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But now there is,

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and we must do something to stop
the detrimental effect they are having.

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Just as calculators killed
mental arithmetic,

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and GPS is annihilating
our navigational skills,

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so, too, will we eventually unlearn
how to communicate in person.

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This technology is effectively
creating human devolution

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as our skill sets diminish.

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If we lose our interpersonal skills,
we will end up isolated and alone,

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with all our virtual friends
locked in a tiny bit of tech

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in the palm of our hand.

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We live in a world
of perception, not reality.

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The brain gets just 10% of its information
from the optic nerve,

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and the remaining 90%, it builds
from what it already has on the inside.

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Which means, it's literally creating
the world around you from within.

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So, we are already living
in a virtual reality of our own making,

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even without our devices.

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The only time we are able to break out
of this bubble perspective

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is when we communicate
genuinely with each other,

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not just paying lip service,
not pretending to listen,

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not just waiting for the other one
to stop talking so you can say your bit.

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We must try harder than that.

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We must try to understand
what it's like to be them,

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to think how they think,
to feel how they feel.

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This is empathy, and we paradoxically
need it for our own selfish reasons.

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Existence can be a lonely business.

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To empathise and to be truly present
with those you are with

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is what binds us together
and makes us feel less alone.

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Next time you reach for your smartphone,

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you might want to consider all of this
and ask yourself the question,

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"Do I really need to look at it?

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Like, really really?"

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Grazie.

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(Applause)