If there is one bad thing that the use of cellphones has brought to the fore in the age of social media, it is that of selfishness.

Four of the major platforms on which this disgusting human trait is practised ad nauseam are X, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Cellphone users spend a great deal of time on ego trips, self-praise, narcissistic embellishments, intellectual masturbation, self-pity, and nauseating repetitiveness involving fashion statements, photographic poses, and, of course, self-righteous pronouncements including vilifications and character assassinations of anyone who dares to oppose them in any way. Even this writer has been guilty of some of these “cell-fish sins”.

And notwithstanding the Cybercrimes Act, many acts of libel, slander, and other cruel representations (usually in pictures or videos), for the most part, occur without much recourse for the offended parties. Then there is the frequent “tracing” match between supporters of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP). Indeed, some of the most nasty, calumnious, and disgusting utterances and illustrations are posted with seeming glee and malice against political opponents and their respective party.

But perhaps the most pernicious and disgusting of all these practices is when mobile phone users converge on a crash site or murder scene and gleefully take pictures/videos of the victims — including children and pregnant women — then place these on social media. A number of fly-by-night, so-called news outlets on line usually gobble up these pictures and highlight them in a most unprofessional and uncaring manner. So much for a free press without responsibility!

Another annoying and dangerous practice is motorists who use their cellphones while driving. Imagine driving on the North Coast Highway and you are in the fast lane only to end up behind a motorcar moving at a snail’s pace with no hazard lights on to suggest there is a problem. You move slowly around it and lo and behold the driver is seen without a care in the world on his cellphone deep in a conversation. One good reason for road rage?

It is alleged that the average Jamaican has at least two cellphones which means that we spend a great deal of time talking, playing Candy Crush and other games, texting, “sexting”, and calling to beg credit or a “smalls”. Needless to say that a great deal of man hours is lost, which must seriously affect the nation’s productivity level. In the meantime, owners of cellphones are constantly at risk of being robbed of their instruments and may even face death if they refuse to hand over same to the marauding miscreants out there who seek to make a thriving business out of reselling them.

American author Paul Mountjoy said in one of his articles entitled ‘Cell phones promote serious social, psychological issues’: “What started out as a means of adult communication has become a teen status symbol and a new age addiction, and it is not a drug; it’s a cell phone…Studies reported by the
Journal of Behavioural Sciences show that a young adult sends an average of 109.5 text messages daily and check their cell phones an average of 60 times a day…A large survey showed 28 per cent of cell phone users use their device to contact partners, 28 per cent contact close friends, 26 per cent contact family, and only 11 per cent use the phone for business.”

He continued to say that a New York City-based psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Spiegel found that “cell phone socialisation is skeletal and interferes or replaces interfacing with people on a much needed social level. The device is creating what some experts call the Narcissist Generation — those who truly believe they are so important and popular with their thoughts they make themselves available to whomever needs them…The cell and text addiction feeds the misplaced sense of self-importance and is now exacerbated by Twitter, making the young sycophantic and susceptible to non-gainful unintelligent chatter. This meaningless chatter is time consuming and can displace activities of greater personal value.”

And as American actor/comedian Bob Newhart once said, “It’s getting harder to differentiate between schizophrenics and people talking on the cell phone. It brings me up short to walk by somebody who appears to be talking to themselves.” In fact, it is a common occurrence for some people to pretend to be talking on their cell phones in public as a form of profiling.

Needless to say, social media has become a major platform to spew conspiracy theories and create all kinds of misinformation or disinformation. And in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has become the preferred pastime of many a mischief-maker seeking notoriety or who deliberately wants to create mayhem and confusion. When former President Donald J Trump used Twitter now X to misinform as well as disinform Americans about the results of the 2020 presidential election, the world stood in awe and shock when his aggrieved and misled supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Additionally, his reference to the novel corona virus as the “China virus” had led to a dramatic rise in hate crimes against persons of Asian origin in that country.

This is not to say that there are not many benefits to be derived from the advent of social media. Its current use, for example, during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate working from home, the widespread use by students who can no longer do face-to-face classes, as well as the implementation of webinars and various virtual interactions be it in entertainment, social events, meetings, etc have been undoubtedly a blessing is disguise.

But, unfortunately, the use of the cellphone has helped to facilitate various criminal activities, including scamming, blackmail, and identity theft. In this vein, our law enforcement agents have their work cut out for them as they must remain on the cutting edge of technology in order to counter the ingenuity and craftiness of this new breed of criminals who has emerged since the pervading presence of social media, which is akin to a pandemic. However, in the long run, what is perhaps most deleterious to the existence of mankind is the pervasive “cell-fishness” that has overtaken the society in which the “me-first” mentality now holds sway.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved in full-time in Jamaican media for the past 50 years. He has also served as a People’s National Party Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica, where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.

Lloyd B Smith