Rotting teeth and immediate communication

I stumbled upon an interesting fact in this Youtube video by Erik Qualman: It seems that more people own a mobile device than a toothbrush.

Despite the fact that there’s not a source for this fact, I don’t have a problem believing it. It just proves what all of us somehow knew already: people are more concerned with their virtual illusion of an appearance than with their actual appearance. It seems as if we look after our Social Media profiles more carefully than after our actual selves.

It could also be another indicator that we slowly become more uncomfortable with the notion of immediate communication (direct, face-to-face, unpredictable) and withdraw to the safe, predictable realms of mediated communications (separated from each other by devices of some kind and time).

When we will reach the stage where we only communicate from our own closed capsules? I don’t know. How long does it take for teeth to rot? (Apparently it can take anything between six months and eight years.)

However, Gen Y is well aware of this unfortunate development and has already figured out a handy solution: 53% of Millennials would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology.

That way, they can still have both: mediated communication through their technology, while keeping face-to-face contact with their friends with rotting teeth (if necessary). You’ve got to admire that sense of pragmatism.