{"id":1258,"date":"2023-10-24T03:59:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/2023\/10\/24\/phone-zombies-chinas-obsession-with-smart-phones\/"},"modified":"2024-07-01T13:48:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T05:48:43","slug":"phone-zombies-chinas-obsession-with-smart-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/phone-zombies-chinas-obsession-with-smart-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"Phone Zombies: China’s Obsession With Smart Phones"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a German cell phone company study, Chinese spend an average of three hours per day on their smart phones. This makes them the second most smart phone addicted people in the world (behind Brazilians who spend a whopping five hours per day on t<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They drift slowly toward me.<\/p>\n

Their faces are illuminated by a soft glow. They form a mindless, impenetrable wall.<\/p>\n

Arms outstretched, they collide into each other and into the walls of the narrow corridor. Yet, they seem not to notice, stumbling forward with steady speed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I try my best to push through the unmovable, unwavering force, but they trample me with their superior numbers.<\/p>\n

Hoping to wake from this terror, I pinch myself. But this is no nightmare of a post-apocalyptic zombie world.<\/p>\n

This is reality.<\/p>\n

This is rush-hour on the Shenzhen<\/a> Metro.<\/p>\n

\"pachikoro-poetry-corner-phone-zombies-2017-1.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Image: briansdailygrind.com<\/p>\n

\n

One of the first things I noticed upon first arrived in China was how addicted so many people here are to their smart phones.<\/p>\n

On my very first day in China, at the Forbidden City, a selfie-stick wielding army of tourists nearly crushed me. Luckily, I managed to escape with all four limbs.<\/p>\n

I quickly learned to pay extra attention to my surroundings, because such few people here pay attention to theirs.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

How to get through crowds like this?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duck and Weave. Stick and Move.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Korea Times US<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

According to a German cell phone company study, Chinese spend an average of three hours per day on their smart phones. This makes them the second most smart phone addicted people in the world (behind Brazilians who spend a whopping five hours per day on their phones ).<\/p>\n

China’s obessive smart phone use has even spurred the creation of a catchphrase. \u4f4e\u5934\u65cf (di tou zu) refers to those people who always look at their phones. You can even hear a warning about<\/p>\n

in the subway stations.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

Data, data everywhere. But not a thought to think.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Radio Free Asia<\/p>\n

\n

So why are Chinese people so addicted to their smart phones?<\/p>\n

Perhaps one reason is how interconnected daily life has become to smart phones. This is also the case in many Western countries, but China kicks it up a notch.<\/p>\n

The Chinese conduct almost every facet of daily life on smart phones. Business, shopping<\/a>, hailing a taxi, and communicating with friends all require a smart phone.<\/p>\n

Another reason may be a lack of social activities<\/a> outside of the cyber-world. A plethora of real-world social activities exist in the West, but in China these present to to lesser extent. Sure they have badminton, but who who\u00a0really\u00a0wants to play badminton?<\/p>\n

Also, China developed so rapidly and lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty in an incredibly short period of time (something that deserves great respect.) Perhaps this endowed them with a certain infatuation with new technologies they previously lacked access to.<\/p>\n

\"phone<\/p>\n

Tibetan monks play on a smart phone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Swipe right, bro! I bet she does yoga.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: The Telegraph<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Side Note on Chinese Dining Etiquette:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When dining with Chinese friends, one must wait for the obligatory food picture before eating.<\/p>\n

Please help your Chinese friends arrange the food and provide proper lighting.<\/p>\n

Do not let your shadow screw up the photo!<\/p>\n

After snapping the photo, some of your friends may clap their hands a few times with excitement. You may clap as well, but you are not required to do so.<\/p>\n

Please remain silent to let your friends post the pictures on Wechat. Be sure not to bother them as they spend the rest of the dinner hunched over their smart phone.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

Image: Goh\u00a0Wei Choon<\/p>\n

\n

So what exactly are Chinese people doing on their smart phones?<\/p>\n

Data from QuestMobile shows that Chinese smart phone users show show about half of their smart phone usage time on Wechat or other Tencent apps (such as smartphone games).<\/p>\n

They spend the other half of their time on Weibo, Taobao, and taking photos of foreigners.<\/p>\n

Many Chinese people are beginning to recognize the problem. Counseling clinics aimed at curing smart phone addiction are popping up across China. Even local governments have started to release public service announcements to help spread awareness.<\/p>\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

“Be a healthy netizen, do not let the smartphone imprison you”
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Daxue Counseling<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Phone<\/p>\n

“Do not be kidnapped by the mobile phone.”<\/p>\n

Image: Daxue Counseling<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It’s certainly comforting that many Chinese people recognize the problem and are taking appropriate measures. However, I question how effective some PSA’s can really be.<\/p>\n

And really, what’s the point of even complaining?\u00a0\u00a0It’s not going to change anything.\u00a0There’s no way to reverse to the zombie apocalypse.<\/p>\n

Besides, you know what they say: If you can not beat ’em, join’ em. You might as well spend more time scrolling through your Wechat feed to see pictures of your friends doing mundane daily tasks.<\/p>\n

Just plug in and tune out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to a German cell phone company study, Chinese spend an average of three hours per day on their smart phones. This makes them the second most smart phone addicted …","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[60,306,29,559,230,30],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funny","tag-china","tag-hiredchina","tag-jobs","tag-marketing","tag-shenzhen","tag-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11729,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions\/11729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiredchina.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}