AMKent books

‘Would Bing stop making itself my default browser!’ – Albert Einstein

Strap in, this might be a controversial one. I will state this bluntly, I suffer from nomophobia, the fear of not having my phone or access to the internet. Anyone who has met someone over a certain age knows that pre-internet days were supposedly a cream-filled rainbow gumdrop golden utopia. The sun was like the baby on Teletubbies and laughed hysterically in the sky, at night everyone held hands and sang. Well, allow me to be the proverbial fly in this metaphorical ointment. I am 29, soon, very soon, too soon, I will be 30 years old. The internet was in its relative infancy during my immaculate conception, but this detail matters not. I did not have the internet at home until I was 15 years old, let that sink in. If I wanted to check Facebook, I had to go to the library, look at pics of Goku at super Saiyan 1029 ? Library. You get the idea, so, I was essentially internet free throughout all my childhood and early teenagerhood. I played outside, I climbed things, I enjoyed nature and had many chance interactions with a plethora of souls. I would have given my right arm for the internet, you see, as fun as good old fashioned tom foolery was. The internet has revolutionised just about everything. I could have spoken to people around the world, educated myself on topics that interested me (b..b.bbb..but books? Yes, I know, but summaries on the internet are usually less time consuming and more suited to the young brain).

I am half-joking here, in many ways I get why the older generations rage hard at the zombification of society. I get it, no one can sit through a film anymore, no one can hold a conversation without looking at their phone, we are all in some way chronically online. It isn’t what our past-selves had in mind when we imagined the future, mouth breathing hunched necks mindlessly scrolling through photoshopped faces and AI generated nonsense. However, not having the internet, or a smart phone, was also really lame. I had to converse with many weirdos, I got in way more trouble through others and my own fault. I was painfully ignorant of many things until I was educated through the internet. I did read books, but not as much as I should have, because like any young man, looking at off-white paper and hallucinating a narrative was not my idea of stimulation.

You see, the crux of the matter is, life is always kinda lame? I mean, even in ancient Greek times you had Diogenes masturbating at you to prove a point, or if you were a spartan your dad would kick you in the balls then tenderly kiss your neck for additional bonding. I fear a life without the internet, not because I do not know what that entails, but because I DO! Sometimes, I put my phone on zen mode, usually two hours, I read before bed for an hour or two so that my mind can settle down and rest. I enjoy these moments of serenity, of internet and phoneless life, but, I also enjoy my moments of mindless swiping and the rest of it. So, in a nutshell, moderation is key? There we have it, I hope we have all grown through this. I mean, without the internet, how else would I write these extremely valid highly important blogs ? I would have to go around throwing it as a physical sheet of screwed up paper at people. That would not be so cool, and I’d be an attention starved Diogenes of my own. Anyway, food for thought, buy my book, or books if you really want to make my Christmas a special one. Until next time friendos.