Louis C.K. has very good reasons to hate cell phones, which he gladly shares with Conan O’Brien and the rest of us. If we’ll listen, we can save thousands of dollars in psychiatric (and collision) costs alone. Why is Louis or Mr. C.K. a hater of the cell phone? Well, it’s a melancholy tale filled with despair, hope, catharsis and a Bruce Springsteen song.
My own dislike of omnipresent cell phones was simplisitic. I believed that we’d just become impossibly rude as a society. Louis C.K. suggests that there is much more to it. In all seriousness, he believes that we’re evading the inevitability of feeling ALONE. We’re suffering existential angst, and the inability to be alone with ourselves and our emotions is a rare and frightening thing.
. Louis C.K. had this epiphany when Bruce Sprinstein ambushed him on his car radio singing “Jungleland” – causing a wave of emotion to wash over him. Says C.K.” sometimes you just have to pull over and cry ‘like a witch!” Of course he means to do so instead of texting someone, reaching for a cigarette or changing the radio station…Or all three if you’re especially reckless. It’s not all gloom and doom, as yer granny could have told you a good cry is therapeutic! You’re the better for it. The release of endorphins will make you feel better and happier afterward – if you just ride it out! I’m of course assuming you do pull over and give full vent to your emotions, rather than driving in a flood of tears, your windshield wipers flapping in speedy futility.
Perhaps we are avoiding facing our emotions in some instances. I buy that. C.K. says we don’t know how to be alone with our feelings, and that’s why we reach out to text someone. From the same standpoint, I can see where cell phones are a substitution for some people, who would normally reach for a Hostess Cupcake. Others might down Tequila before those lonely thoughts can creep in. Some tune into TV or video games to numb their feelings…Or tune out their spouse.
Listen people, we’ve got to get real! If you’re having trouble, may I suggest “Jungleland” by Bruce Springstein. ; )
However, as you know my pet peeve is when people are facing one another, perhaps around a table, and are still texting and checking their Facebook status, instagram photos….Completely ignoring the flesh and blood people within inches of them. What on earth can possibly explain that? I truly want to know what or who is more important than the person you arranged to meet, the one who is right in front of your face – and probably texting too?
Can we agree that is just plain rude – and shows the attention span of a cracked up gerbil?
This is a classic episode originally viewed on Conan in September of 2013, but if anything it’s more relevant today than ever.