The unusual pose in which a woman was caught swimming in a pool: “The most dystopian thing I have seen”
A video filmed at Sydney's Bondi Icebergs pool has gone viral after a swimmer was caught in an unexpected pose that upset many.
An unprecedented scene filmed at Bondi Icebergs, the famous ocean pool in Sydney's east, went viral over the weekend after a woman was caught swimming on her back while using her mobile phone.
In the video, the woman appears to be scrolling the screen, using only her feet to move down the aisle.
At one point, she turns the phone over and holds it at a distance, a gesture that suggests she might be trying to take a photo or video.
The clip was shared by Brown Cardigan's Instagram account, who accompanied the images with a sarcastic caption: “It's good that people live in the moment, maximize their screen time, are never offline and share every possible minute of their lives.”
The reactions of netizens were immediate.
One user wrote: “We have no way back as a species.”
Another commented briefly: “Only at Bondi”.
“Maybe the most dystopian thing I've ever seen,” wrote a man.
“POV: You're addicted to your phone, but also to the beach life” someone else commented.
Although most of the comments were ironic, there were also a few more indulgent people who suggested that maybe the woman “she was documenting her visit to a famous Australian destination” or maybe he did “a tutorial for a swimming lesson”.
Warning of specialists
However, the new images are bringing the issue of smartphone addiction in Australia back into the spotlight. According to SEO agency RedSearch, Australians spend an average of over six hours a day on their mobile phones. Almost three-quarters of them check social networks immediately after waking up, and 80% do so before going to bed, notes the DailyMail.
Researchers from the University of Queensland have shown that prolonged use of phones has wide-ranging negative effects on sleep, concentration and stress levels.
“We're becoming the voluntary product of the attention economy, but I don't think we're winning any more in this economy, even if we're more informed and hyper-connected to everything going on in the world.” says Dr Eric Lim, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales.
“It becomes a vicious cycle: the more connected we are, the more we need these apps to keep giving us new content to keep us hooked on the dopamine they produce.” he explained that the mechanism is basically self-powered.
Dr. Lim also analyzed the phenomenon of “nomophobia”, defined as the anxiety felt when not having a mobile phone, a growing phenomenon.
“Studies have shown that 18- to 24-year-olds develop nomophobia more often than other age groups,” warned the specialist, adding that more and more small children end up using phones as surrogates for their parents' attention.
