Even those among us who are not heavy mobile users would struggle to go this long without our phones. Think of all the little things you use them for and how many times you pick them up just to check the screen and put them down, again.
Before they went into the house, we sat down with the housemates to ask them what they thought would be the thing they missed the most about their phones.
Music
This was a popular response, which also reflects how the global consumption of music has changed over the years. Many of you reading this will have gone your whole lives without owning a CD player, because your phone isn’t just for phoning, anymore.
Of the remaining housemates, both Ebubu and Thabang listed music as the thing they would miss the most.
Social media
This should surprise absolutely no one. Ever since Friendster’s launch in 2003, social media has grown to become the dominant force on the internet, responsible for how the majority of connected users get their news (not a great thing), stay in touch (a very good thing), and share pictures of their food (no comment).
Since then, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have become the dominant players in the market, and Justin, Blaqboi, Yvonne, and Tsatsii all said that they would miss the constant connectedness that those platforms provide. Ipeleng said she would miss TikTok, but she was only interested in seeing what her little sister had to post, not the world at large.
Creating content
Uhm – this one’s a little weird. Sure, they won’t be able to go online and share their own content on social media, but they are under constant surveillance with their every move transmitted across the world via satellites flying through space, which is a lot of content. Both Khosi and Kanaga Jnr thought they would miss developing material for themselves, and Khosi has developed her own pseudo podcast while in the house, so she clearly does miss it.
Checking the time
This is one of those things we might not appreciate about our phones. Not that long ago, nearly everybody had wristwatches, now they are becoming increasingly uncommon, except as a way to connect to our phones, so that barely counts. Both Justin and Thabang thought that the extended inability to check the time would be the thing that bothered them the most.
Playing games
Only one of the housemates said that they would miss using their phone to play mobile games. Yvonne might have something of an attention span problem: she lists word puzzles, Temple Run, and Candy Crush as her guilty pleasures.
Actual communication
They are phones, after all. The entire reason for their creation was to enable communication across long distances, and a few of the housemates recognised that they would miss being able to check in with loved ones while in the house. Justin, Yvonne, Tsatsii, and Thabang all said they would miss chatting to people. Khosi, for what it’s worth, said she would miss speaking to her “boyfriend”. Ahem. We’ll just leave that there.
Cover image: Pixabay via Pexels.
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