Do we really want out?

[hmg]

I will add, the nurses and doctors did get their act together by the end, but if his family weren't present, they would not have bothered, which was a shock.

 

[sufi]

Limits to this. Spent the past two days basically nursing my dad (cos it seems it's below actual NHS nurses to do so these days) as he died, but never felt like taking any photos. Drank a fuckload of tea though.

sorry to hear that dear hmg

 

[wg-]

Ah best wishes that is horrendous

 

[Mr. Tea]

Limits to this. Spent the past two days basically nursing my dad (cos it seems it's below actual NHS nurses to do so these days) as he died, but never felt like taking any photos. Drank a fuckload of tea though.

Hey there. Very sorry to hear that.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Limits to this. Spent the past two days basically nursing my dad (cos it seems it's below actual NHS nurses to do so these days) as he died, but never felt like taking any photos. Drank a fuckload of tea though.

Very sorry to hear this

 

[boxedjoy]

thinking of you and yours at this terrible time, I'm so sorry.

 

[version]

Yeah, also sorry to hear that.

 

[droid]

Ah, that's a pile of shit. RIP. Try and take care of yourself in the coming days and weeks.

 

[john eden]

Yep +1 to all that. Sorry to hear it, look after yourself.

 

[you]

Limits to this. Spent the past two days basically nursing my dad (cos it seems it's below actual NHS nurses to do so these days) as he died, but never felt like taking any photos. Drank a fuckload of tea though.

Condolences. Words fall short. Be good to yourself.

 

[you]

Limits to this. Spent the past two days basically nursing my dad (cos it seems it's below actual NHS nurses to do so these days) as he died, but never felt like taking any photos. Drank a fuckload of tea though.

The psychologist on radio 4 was specifically talking about the minutes immediately after a massive event - terrorist acts in particular. His point was that in this strange window, before any meaningful processing of the disruption and change has occurred, people tend to revert to familiar habits. Not necessarily cell phone usage - but seeing as for many people this is the dominant habit it is unsurprising that after a bombing or rampage a number of people's idle default is using their phone.

 

[version]

With the phone in particular there's an argument for it acting as a shield or filter. It's not as real when mediated through the screen.

 

[Clinamenic]

With the phone in particular there's an argument for it acting as a shield or filter. It's not as real when mediated through the screen.

Yeah and in a way its something you can with withdraw into, a sort of cocoon that insulated from the real world.

 

[version]

Yeah and in a way its something you can with withdraw into, a sort of cocoon that insulated from the real world.

Pulling the duvet over your head and your feet in, so the monsters can't get you.

 

[Clinamenic]

Exactly, often without even thinking about it.

 

[Clinamenic]

Where you can peacefully rearrange your apps.

 

[Leo]

The psychologist on radio 4 was specifically talking about the minutes immediately after a massive event - terrorist acts in particular. His point was that in this strange window, before any meaningful processing of the disruption and change has occurred, people tend to revert to familiar habits. Not necessarily cell phone usage - but seeing as for many people this is the dominant habit it is unsurprising that after a bombing or rampage a number of people's idle default is using their phone.

do you mean using the phone to document and share the event, or just diving into the phone as a form of escapism (checking email, etc,)?

 

[version]

You often hear people describe graphic footage of wars, violence and disasters as 'unreal' or like something from a film, but that might also be due to most of us only ever having seen that stuff through a screen in the first place rather because of whatever you're actually looking at having been filmed.

There was a lot of talk of Soderbergh's Contagion and its accuracy when COVID hit. It was incredibly unsettling to watch with the benefit of hindsight.

 

[you]

Haven't both @version and @Clinamenic succumbed to the assumed objectivity the thread OP criticises? Yes, certain behaviours of habit may emerge in the moments after massive shock - but that doesn't vitiate the subject's tenuous relation to things we are calling 'the real world'. Experience is always in relation to events - so an experience that leads one to viciously tweeting outrage or frantically updating social media channels (or whatever) is not less of an experience of the event.

If we pursue this angle we'll start smugly referring to certain experiences as less valid than others. And I don't think that is the case. I'm not interested in valuing how people navigate and experience events, but I am interested in the behaviours that emerge in certain contexts.

@Clinamenic 's comment re. cocoon is not that far from a whisky sodden man at the bar wringing his hands that the kids on their phones can't 'face reality'.

 

[you]

My gripe is these last few posts tend to assume there is some truthful experience and others miss this in their blinkered and ignorant little lives dominated by habits one disagrees with. Whereas this isn't the case, it's not that comfortable and neat. There is no truthful experience. Just plurality.