Photo: China.org
Chinese authorities are taking good care of their little zombies, with the latest project being a newly-designed lane to keep them safe from incoming cars.
Obviously, we’re not talking about the brain-eating, undead type of zombies you see in movies, but rather the kind you can notice walking past you down the street: the so-called phubbers, people who walk with their heads down and their eyes glued to their smartphones, oblivious to everything else around them.
Though a widespread phenomenon all over the world, it’s particularly poignant in China. In fact, the situation is such that initiatives to “protect” phubbers from fellow pedestrians or cars, or elders from ignorant phubbers have been taken before in the country. They never caught on, though, perhaps because phubbers can’t be bothered to look up from their phones to notice them.
The latest will make a difference, authorities hope. It’s a separate lane for phubbers, created in front of a popular mall, where cars often come onto the sidewalk, putting these smartphone-addicted youths at serious risk.
“Painted red, green and blue and featuring pictures of smartphones, the special lane is located on the busy Yanta Roan, in Xi’an, and is 80cm wide and 100m long. Chinese media reports that a large shopping mall overlooking the smartphone-user lane had been asking authorities for it over a month,” Oddity Central reports.
“Young people’s lives nowadays are fast, and they’re always looking at their phones. This puts our minds at rest – those of us who are often looking at our phones – as it’s a form of protection,” one local tells the Chinese media, as cited by the outlet.
Of course, the number 1 thing that has to happen for this initiative to be a success is for phubbers to notice the lane. That would imply ungluing their eyes from their devices for even a second, and that’s unlikely to happen. The new lane is already proving quite controversial on Chinese social media, with many joking that it will result in a failure.
Though a widespread phenomenon all over the world, it’s particularly poignant in China. In fact, the situation is such that initiatives to “protect” phubbers from fellow pedestrians or cars, or elders from ignorant phubbers have been taken before in the country. They never caught on, though, perhaps because phubbers can’t be bothered to look up from their phones to notice them.
The latest will make a difference, authorities hope. It’s a separate lane for phubbers, created in front of a popular mall, where cars often come onto the sidewalk, putting these smartphone-addicted youths at serious risk.
“Painted red, green and blue and featuring pictures of smartphones, the special lane is located on the busy Yanta Roan, in Xi’an, and is 80cm wide and 100m long. Chinese media reports that a large shopping mall overlooking the smartphone-user lane had been asking authorities for it over a month,” Oddity Central reports.
“Young people’s lives nowadays are fast, and they’re always looking at their phones. This puts our minds at rest – those of us who are often looking at our phones – as it’s a form of protection,” one local tells the Chinese media, as cited by the outlet.
Of course, the number 1 thing that has to happen for this initiative to be a success is for phubbers to notice the lane. That would imply ungluing their eyes from their devices for even a second, and that’s unlikely to happen. The new lane is already proving quite controversial on Chinese social media, with many joking that it will result in a failure.
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