Video: WWDC 2018: Can Apple cure us of smartphone addiction?
It's our own fault.
We've become so attached to our phones that we've forgotten how to look people in the eye.
Read also: How Apple turned ugly into normal[1]
Unless we're talking to them on FaceTime, that is.
So, when Apple's fine executives took to the WWDC 2018[2] stage last Monday, they were a tortured bunch.
They know that smartphone addiction is a big problem. They also know that an increasing amount of human interaction -- and even work -- is being conducted through phones[3].
So, like every good lover or shrink, they showed that they understand.
Here was a new Screen Time feature that showed you just how obsessive your phone use really is. And there was was a new timer that reminded you just how many minutes (or hours) you've just wasted on some vacuous app.
But look over here, everyone! Memojis. Because we know that mere emojis were never going to be enough, we created Animojis. You got used to those, didn't you? Well, we pumped out enough ads about them to get you excited, didn't we? So here's something that turns an Animoji into something even more, well, personal! Because you can never be too personal with your animation, can you?
The whole thing was a perfect depiction of our torn times.
We tell ourselves that we're heading in a troubled, gadget-absorbed direction. Yet we can't resist owning more gadgets and, worse, allowing those gadgets to be the focal point of our lives.
We tell ourselves that we need them to turn our lights on and off[4]. We need them to open