Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
THE Philippine tech scene is so far behind its peers that the parts where we excel are the most tangential, trivial and inconsequential areas of technology: texting capital of the world, the longest presence on social media, and as if we can't sink any lower, the top visitors of the site Pornhub. These are the areas bereft of the tiniest sliver of commercial or moral value. The few of us still with our ancient text-and-call-only phones can't adjust to a universe where people are glued to their smartphones and not much else in almost all the communal spaces like public markets, public transportation, malls, restaurants and other public convergence points — wasted time and zero productivity.
In that same tortured, clueless universe, the most popular words are "like," "share" and "views." The obscene and endless fascination with the most nonsensical aspects and jargon of technology. These are not, mind you, social media influencers earning bucks big or small from the "views." They are just plain citizens who never seem to take their eyes off their small screens.
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