In The Present

I don’t have a car. That means when I go out and about, if it’s further than walking distance, I get on a bus.

RM 880 at Heathrow Airport on 15th June 2022

Sitting on the bus a few days ago, I couldn’t help but notice how everyone was sitting, heads down, looking into their phones. Some were watching videos, some I could see were messaging (or at least inputting something). Everyone though was somewhere else. They were on the bus journey physically, but mentally they could well have been the other side of the world.

I think cellphones are a great tool. I use mine for so many things. However, I do think that we all suffer from overload if we’re not careful. Isn’t it time that we sometimes, at least, came back into the present time? Is it good to spend the bulk of our lives with our mind in other places? I even see it when people are out together. They’re not sitting having a conversation, but on their phones somewhere else in the world.

I stopped looking at all my fellow passengers who were elsewhere and went back to the present, and looked out of the window as we travelled along the street.

Driving And Your Cellphone

Although most people know it’s illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving, did you know there are other, perhaps less obvious ways that you can break the law with a phone behind the wheel?

Original Samsung Galaxy Note Phone
Original Samsung Galaxy Note Phone

It’s not illegal to use your phone as a GPS or SatNav device, but it IS illegal to be touching the screen while you’re driving, or even sitting in traffic with the engine running.

Also, when you pull up to the drive thru to grab a coffee or a burger on the go, it’s illegal to use your phone to pay for your purchase, unless you apply the hand brake and cut the engine first.

Perhaps PC Plod isn’t going to be hiding at the Starbucks window, but you have been warned!