OPINION: How is the smartphone era changing us?

I recently called into a cafe in Galway which had an interesting notice posted on a blackboard outside.

“Nope, no WiFi,” it read. “Talk to each other. Laugh. Drink tea. Look around. Flirt. Make friends. Live!”

I admired the clever way the cafe had turned its lack of free internet into a virtue. But the board’s underlying message was also thought-provoking: when we’re immersed in WiFi we are not talking to each other, not looking around, not making friends, not living.

Whether it’s connected to the WiFi blackout or not, the place in question (The Secret Garden, on Sea Road) happens to have one of the nicest, friendliest atmospheres of any cafe I’ve ever visited.

It is worth thinking about the way in which 24/7 internet access - and the relentless shift from traditional forms of media to the online world - is changing our lives, our habits, and possibly even our personalities.

The manager of the Southampton football team, Ronald Koeman, recently spoke of how constant use of headphones and smartphones was affecting players’ ability to communicate with each other on the pitch.

“When I was playing, we played cards on the coach when we went to matches, we talked and we had communication,” said the 53-year-old Dutchman.

“Now everyone just puts on his headphones and is in his own world. For young players it is all about themselves and less about communication with the rest of the players. That is maybe one of the reasons they don’t talk any more on the pitch,” he observed.

Koeman was sufficiently concerned about the issue that he decided to send his players to weekly sessions on improving their focus, communication, and concentration.

“We like to support communication and it’s not natural for young players anymore. They don’t talk, everybody is in his own world.

“If I have dinner with my kids, we say put the telephones together and we talk. If not, they use them,” he said.

People using their phones during meals with others - or taking them out mid-conversation in a pub or cafe - is a particular bugbear of mine.

In a restaurant one evening, I was facing a table at which three couples were seated.

Five of the six diners chatted and interacted as normal, but the sixth spent virtually the entire meal with his head down, toying with his phone. From my vantage point, it looked incredibly rude and inconsiderate.

The fact that people have become accustomed to accessing news and information for free on their phones is having a major impact on newspapers and other traditional media.

The decline in newspaper sales throughout the world has diminished resources and budgets in newsrooms.

President Barack Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Ben Rhodes, pointed out that the major American papers used to have foreign bureaus. Today, they report on global events from Washington and rely on the White House to explain what’s happening to them. 

“The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change,” said Mr Rhodes. “They literally know nothing.”

The impact of the smartphone era is not just being felt at big international newspapers, of course. It can also be seen here at home.

Court reporting is a long-established element of a local paper. Its importance is clear - justice must be seen to be done.

Around ten years ago, you could read reports on what was happening in Athlone District Court court each week in the Westmeath Independent, Athlone Voice, Athlone Topic, and Athlone Advertiser.

Today the Athlone Voice is gone and, of the remaining titles, the Westmeath Independent is the only one which currently covers court sittings each week.

So although we live in an era of plentiful information in the palm of your hand, the resources available for skilled and specialised journalism in the public interest are, sadly, decreasing.

It would be wrong to overlook the positive contributions which smartphones make to our lives.

They keep us in contact with people all over the world to an unprecedented degree. They map out our journeys and stop us getting lost. They deliver almost endless entertainment.

Despite these undoubted advantages, I can’t shake the nagging feeling that they’re also bringing many changes which are not for the better.

Perhaps it’s a curmudgeonly view to hold, but I can identify with comments made by Bob Dylan in a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone.

“It’s peculiar and unnerving in a way to see so many young people walking around with mobile phones and iPods in their ears and so wrapped up in media and video games,” said Bob.

“It robs them of their self-identity. It’s a shame to see them so tuned out to real life.”