Be smart

I was enjoying a night at the opera recently, and during the three hour production of La Traviata, in the two intervals, I was horrified to see a large proportion of the audience immediately get out their smart phones and were busy checking e-mail or sending messages. What could have possibly been so urgent, that it couldn't wait until the opera had finished? I see people walking around clutching their smart phones as if this is the most important priceless possession they own. It reminds me of children who when very young, lovingly grasp and drag everywhere their favourite blue "blankie" for security. Wherever you look, you see people of all ages holding onto their smart phones for dear life, mesmerized as they swipe back and forth. What did we all do before mobile phones, and now with technology's fastening speed, we have advanced (or in my opinion regressed) developing the ultimate in anti social behaviour - taking more notice and spending much time with the smart phone than the people around us. How did we manage without being in constant contact with each other every minute of the day, the world now at our fingertips? It would be far "smarter" to know when it is deemed appropriate to put down your phone or can I be so bold and have the audacity to suggest actually turning it off when in company. Maybe if I didn't have Parkinson's I too would by guilty of this modern day behaviour and own a smart phone, but I cannot use a touch screen. With little dexterity in my fingers, I'm unable to operate one of these, so I have an old fashioned dinosaur of a mobile phone that simply makes and receives calls; most importantly it has an alarm that rings several times a day telling me when to take my Parkinson's medications.