Unhealthy obsession with technology, even in the gym, leaves us with no energy to form real friendships
Kelly Yang says our dependence on gadgets is affecting our ability to form meaningful friendships, leading to loneliness - and websites where people can now rent a friend
After eight blissful years away from the gym, I recently broke down and rejoined. I'm not a gym person by nature. My idea of a good workout is a hike in the woods.
However, my aunt recently got osteoporosis in her knee and watching her go through that reminded me of the importance of strength training and doing weight-bearing exercises so, somewhat reluctantly, I signed up.
Eight years is a long time to not be in any game, especially the gym game. In the time I've been gone, gyms have become ridiculously posh. They now come with free T-shirts, shorts, socks, fruit, water, Wi-fi and a range of charging options for your gadgets. Left your gadget at home? No problem - they'll lend you an iPod. Seeing all this, I seriously considered giving up my apartment and moving in to the gym.
As I began my workout, I quickly realised what else was different compared with eight years ago: everyone was glued to their phones. Leg press machines were mere lounge chairs for texting, flat benches convenient bases for Snapchatting. On the ab machine, I saw very little crunching - only Facebooking.
Personal trainers are expensive. Why spend HK$600 an hour just to talk about the latest episode of Game of Thrones?
It got to the point where I almost couldn't exercise. As I sat waiting for everyone to finish taking selfies so that I could actually use the machines, I started watching the many personal trainers around me with their clients. Eight years ago, personal trainers were a rarity. Now, they're practically a prerequisite for joining the gym. I took this to be a sign of their superior skill and effectiveness when it comes to exercise, but, to my surprise, a lot of the people with personal trainers weren't working out either.
