Serious Question: Does Anyone Know How to Have Fun Anymore?
Peak smartphone is over and that's good news.
Hi everyone, it’s Helen! Thanks for opening this up!
I think the age of “peak smartphone” is on its way out and here’s how I know: Teens in the city don’t have them in hand so much anymore. Recently I was riding on the subway (should have taken the car: I soon came down with a rollicking case of laryngitis that I just KNOW some TTM—Toronto Typhoid Mary—gave me) and I witnessed an absolutely pure case of teens being teens and actually interacting with each other.
Three adorable girls aged around 16 were seated on the train and flirting with three cute boys, aged about the same. The guys were standing over by the sliding doors. One of the girls got out of her seat, sashayed over to the guys and, wait for it, said, “Hey, do you guys have a snack?”
A snack?
This has got to be one of the most delightful pickup lines of all time. Our young heroine used her budding teen courage to chat up some boys and nowhere was a smartphone to be seen. Plus, she came back to her friends with a protein bar in her hand. What a queen. I nearly got up and high-fived her because clearly she’s my kind of lady (i.e. snack-focused at all times), but I was busy catching an infectious disease from my seatmate.
When she got back to her friends they were all giggling and the boys were blushing. It was so freaking adorbs I didn’t know what to do with myself, other than accidentally catching a throat plague.
Tangent: I wrote this article “9 Only-in-Toronto Summer Experiences” that Toronto’s tourism board sent out in a newsletter. Read it here if you have time!
What also struck me was that none of these six teens were glued to their smartphones. They were looking around (admittedly there’s a lot to look at on the subway, it’s full of weirdos) and they were deep into in their own conversations, like in the old days. It made me really happy to see them living in the moment, flirting, taking the chance to be embarrassed and to make their friends laugh.
Having fun goes hand-in-hand with making memories. And, making memories—the kind that last until you get old—is something that happens in real life, messy and sloppy as it is. Smartphones could never.
Personally, I’ll be glad to see the demise of the smartphone’s starring role in our lives. These devices have killed our fun, our sense of spontaneity and our willingness to take risks. Does anyone remember getting lost anymore? Getting lost is scary, but it forces you to interact with people and it most likely will help you memorize directions for next time by searing them into your lizard brain.
Many teens already seem to know that smartphones are inherently bad, written about here in “The Teenager Leading the Smartphone Liberation Movement.”
Legit question: Have you noticed in your own friend group that it’s not cool to be on your phone so much anymore? I’ve really seen this phenomenon among my friends, where we keep our phones stuck in our handbags. Five years ago we might have put our collective iPhones on the brunch table, like some sort of adult Tamagotchi egg, while scarfing our eggs benedict.
So let’s all ditch our phones more (or at least leave them tucked away) and look for IRL fun wherever we can find it.
This is what I think we should do more of…
✅ People watch. One of my friends is a pro people watcher, I mean, she’s elevated subtly sussing out passersby into a sport. If you’re good at people watching, I guarantee you will always be entertained because humans are ding dongs.
✅ Roast yourself. Trust me, some of the best cheap thrills you can get in this short, confusing life on this spinning rock is to recount an embarrassing (but funny) story about yourself. People love it. I never used to be able to do this to myself but I enjoy it now because sharing a funny moment is definitely worth my dignity.
✅ Surround yourself with friends who are down to clown. All of my friends, without exception, are silly and fun to be around. I just don’t have time for people who are over-serious, stuffy and don’t know how to cackle like a hyena. Not my vibe. Fun people are everywhere, you’ve got to collect them.
✅ Go out more! If you’re young, you’re supposed to be outside of your house. Not on the couch. Yeah, I know it’s easier to lie on your bed in your sweatpants, but you’ll get to do plenty of that when you're old and have a raging case of hip bursitis like me. Outside is where the fun happens: at bars and clubs, at the park on a sunny day, even the movie theater and mall have more potential for chance encounters and silliness than the confines of your home.
✅ Embrace the office when you’re young (or any age, really). The office can be a feature, not a bug, which I think we have lost sight of. I love remote work but some of the most fun I’ve ever had was in the office ON SOMEONE ELSE’S DIME. You can kick it while getting paid, which let me tell you, I turned into an art form in my Office Lady days.
Did I once rip a wristwatch advertisement featuring Michael Fassbender out of a magazine, use a Sharpie marker to draw a speech bubble out of his mouth that read “I Love You Natalie, Run Away With Me,” then teeter up one flight of concrete stairs in my BCBG heels to pin it onto my friend’s cubicle wall when she wasn’t looking? Yes I did, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
So your task, if you choose to accept it, is to put down your phone and have more fun this week. Let me know if you’re up for the challenge 😉
Warmly,
Helen
P.S. If you missed my summer round up of awesome things including books for the beach, the best sunscreen brand and a Hermes sandal dupe that goes with all outfits, read my recent post here.
P.P.S. I made a video about my recent experience going VIRAL on TikTok and boy, all you need to do is follow these easy 19 (!) steps!