We ask Leeds: Are people too reliant on their mobile phones?

Transcript

00:00 Do you think people are too reliant on their phones?

00:02 Yeah, definitely.

00:04 And what impact do you think that's having?

00:06 We're not socialising so much.

00:08 Everybody's just got the headphones stuck in their phone all the time, not talking.

00:13 Having just been caught using my phone, I think people are very much too reliant on their phones.

00:18 I was just trying to work out why I was actually using it.

00:20 I'm trying to track down my wife.

00:22 I think I was going to make a phone call,

00:24 but I was actually just sort of caught in the middle of, you know, where shall I go next?

00:29 So yeah, very strange, but I think it's...

00:32 I can't say it's a generational thing, but it's definitely a thing.

00:36 And what impact do you think that's having on people?

00:38 I think we lose interaction with people.

00:42 We lose eye contact.

00:44 We get distracted when we shouldn't be talking to our family.

00:48 If I had a bit more discipline, maybe I'd have phone-free times.

00:53 But yeah, but maybe this conversation will help me have that.

00:56 Phone-free time.

00:59 Do you think people are too reliant on their phones?

01:01 I think a mobile phone's a really important way to keep in touch with family,

01:06 friends about personal safety and security.

01:08 However, do I think it's a good idea when you see people, for instance,

01:10 in museums and art galleries, so busy taking photographs and texting each other about it,

01:15 that they're not actually looking at what's going on around them?

01:16 I think that's just a very strange anomaly of being so attached to a screen

01:21 rather than the world around you.

01:22 So do you think people are too reliant on their phones?

01:25 Yes.

01:25 And what impact do you think that's having on them?

01:28 Well, mainly a negative impact because they're believing too much of what other people are saying.

01:34 And sometimes some people are just saying things to see what they can stir up.

01:39 A hornet's nest, if you like.

01:42 A lot of it's misinformation and a lot of it should be fact-checked better.