Super Computer Rectangle Addiction Disease
Hey You...Yeah You....LOOK UP! Do you have S.C.R.A.D?
Heads down. Ear pods inserted. The tram rolls on.
Meanwhile, the Yarra flows under the Princes Bridge, the sky is filled with cumulonimbus clouds, and the dude in the Mini Cooper outside my window maniacally beats on his steering wheel.
My eyes come back inside the tram. No one meets my gaze as they sit glued to the rectangle. Conversation is almost non-existent.
When was the last time you sat and wondered? When was the last time you sat alone in a café or a pub or on public transport without holding your supercomputer?
You can turn away from whatever screen you are looking at now because you know where this rant may be going. There are studies, articles, videos every week about what you are about to read…or not. As I type this on a larger screen than the supercomputer rectangle we all carry in our pockets, I know I am creating a piece you will probably access ( I will never know if you read it) on your phone.
First-hand knowledge of the dopamine flush you get from pushing a button is something I have been aware of as an issue in my life since I was a child. Pinball machines, computer games for a while, and then a costly addiction for a bit. Just one more twirl and it will be better than the last one. How many quarters, dollars did I jam into mindless screen fun before the advent of the ever-present rectangle? The programming had begun.
Instagram and Reels were my thing before I removed Insta from my phone. Everything has become gamified. They built the device, they give you the apps (with in-app purchases available!!), and then they steal one of your most valuable commodities.
Time.
They also build isolation, although they tell us we are all connected.
Below is an opinion piece I truly liked and a great idea if you are trying to combat the rectangular habit:
I designated a single spot in my home where I could use it: a stripy armchair in my living room, which I have now anointed the Scrolly Chair.
The Scroll Phone has no SIM card, only Wi-Fi, and I’m allowed to use it as much as I want, as long as I’m sitting in the Scrolly Chair. The Scrolly Chair exists so that I don’t end up doing exactly what I did when my actual phone was also my Scroll Phone: eating dinner with my Scroll Phone, watching TV with my Scroll Phone, sitting on the toilet with my Scroll Phone. (You do it. Don’t pretend you don’t.) The Scrolly Chair allows me to tether my social media use to a single place. If I’m on the Scroll Phone, I must be on the Scrolly Chair. I even bought a phone stand shaped like a little piggy for the Scroll Phone to keep it on my shelf, a way to remind myself of what I’m doing when I pick it up: gobbling up social media like a pig at the trough. By Meher Ahmad https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/opinion/culture/phone-algorithm-addiction.html
People have gatherings where phones are checked in, phone-free parties are gaining popularity (I’d like to be invited to ANY party these days!) and some people are reverting to flip phones. Please bring back paper maps and sticking to plans.
We find it frustrating when our kids come around and are on their phones when you want some family time. My partner gets defensive when I am looking to connect without that rectangle around, and I get it. Who wants to be told what to do with their rectangle?
NOMOPHOBIA is real. You can feel it in the air. The relationships we have with the rectangle are so acute. We panic if we leave it behind; we check it incessantly; and we use it to answer questions that we would have had conversations about before. The unknown hardly exists anymore because we always have the answer machine with us.
Coming from a generation who lived without mobile phones and super pro rectangles, I look at those days with fondness. My first cell phone was not a personal decision; I had to have one for work. From there, it was all downhill. Now, of course, most people don’t even make phone calls. I know I have a plethora of messaging apps on my I-rectangle.
OK, if you are still reading, thanks for hanging in there with another everyone is on their devices too much piece.
I have made some changes, but I do want to make more, and I hope I can be successful.
You can play along but from the time I publish this article, I am going to do the following:
1-My phone will not come with me when I go for a walk
2-My phone will be charged overnight and not brought into the bedroom.
3-If I am hanging out at home with others, after dinner, the phone will be relegated to some place else. I don’t need non-stop information updates, but I will answer calls, so don’t text!
Check out this video from the Functional Melancholic…..well worth your time.
That is all for now. Addiction is not fun, and it bugs the shit out of me watching the entire world addicted and controlled.
It’s made me think about my time house-sitting and going bush. I do not do it to get away from my lover or to get away from the place I live. I do it because when I am there, I am in a place where a phone becomes more of a camera. And to be honest, I come alive on the land.
My addiction to the rectangle still requires more attention. I promise not to be like an ex-smoker because I am not an ex-rectangle user; I am just cutting down on my unlocks per day.
Here is a fun little site to figure out how many yeares of your life you will spend on screens. For example, the average screen time in the UK is 6 hours a day, which is 21 years of an average lifetime. That is berserk. Check it out below and see how much time you will be in front of a screen based on your calculations.
https://unplugged.rest/screen-time-calculator
Here are some more songs incorporating Pedal Steel….Volume 10
QOBUZ link and the dreaded Spotify below….enjoy the slide.
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/6757621