Smartphones: a help or a hindrance

Lately I’ve noticed that when people are out and about, they spend a greater part of the time on their phone.  Now I’m not badmouthing, because I know that I do this myself.  However, it might be time for an intervention. 

People are becoming more and more acceptable to having impersonal relationships.  They no longer have a need to have that face-to-face interaction.  However, that comes at a price.  Due to the fact that people are able to disconnect from others, they are able to keep feelings and emotions away and at a distance. I saw a movie once, entitled Sleep Dealers and in this futuristic movie people are able connect on a global network that will join their minds and experiences.  In one scene, the main character’s house is bombed by a drone that is being flown by someone miles away…the futuristic technology allows for the pilot to keep himself at an unfeeling distance.  I couldn't find the specific clip but here's the trailer for the movie:

Thankfully our technology hasn’t involved that far but there’s no telling when we might achieve it at the rate we develop new technology. 

Moving back to how technology is making us become an impersonal world.  I found this interesting blog post on exactly how smartphones is achieving in making us more impersonal, entitled The Depersonalization of Society. 

https://longblogsaboutpracticallyanything.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/the-depersonalisation-of-society/

Smartphones are objects that have the power to control us.  There are good things about smartphones, but there are also things about phones that chain us.  For those who grew up in a technology filled world, you probably don’t think anything of it, but for those who grew up without technology, you probably remember a time when you were actually able to go months without seeing some kind of technology. 

Speaking from experience I don’t remember the last time that I actually sat down and had an actual conversation with someone and not have it interrupted by some alert on my phone.  That being said I’d like to end with a few questions.  Has technology effectively killed off face-to-face communication?  Have humans lost themselves as people to technology?  In the future will technology be more of a help or more of a hindrance? 

Ciao!