“Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.” Miguel de Cervantes
Who is your most trusted confidant? Who is the keeper of your most intimate secrets? Who knows everything about you?
Your mother? Your lover? Your priest? Mark Zuckerberg?
Wrong! Wrong on all counts.
Your most trusted friend, the guardian of all your secrets is your smartphone. It knows absolutely everything about you. Who your friends are, who you called, who called you, where you have been…? It retains (compromising?) photographs and videos….
No denying it… the device that you keep the closest to your heart knows more about you than your accountant.
But is it really a friend? Can it be trusted? Could it ever betray you? The sad truth is that, even without torture, if you ever get into trouble, your BFF will sing like a canary on a summer night. It will tell everything it knows about you, warts and all. All your saucy messages, all your naughty sex texts will be revealed for the world to know.
Because your smartphone is not really your friend; it is your servant, and servants are known to spill all the beans for their 15 minutes of fame. As a matter of fact, all your connected devices are double agents. They will work for you but have no qualms about working against you. They are mercenaries, pure and simple.
As the saying goes, if you want a friend, get a dog. It will never let you down and will never ever reveal any secrets. Of course, when it comes to communication, a dog is not as reliable as a phone, but it will keep you warm and let you sleep at night.
So, what should you do? Fire your phone? Live without this traitorous piece of technology? Unthinkable!
The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy. Friedrich Nietzsche
Divide and conquer. Use the two girlfriends’ technique. Get a second phone and make the first one jealous. Let them compete for your affection. And don’t share with the first one what you told the second one.
In conclusion,
your phone is not your friend. It is more like a jittery lover. As long as you get along, you are fairly safe. But if you ever break up, watch out and batten down the hatches. Your vindictive phone will talk like a Trump minion.
“Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.”
Alain