The Smartphone as Huxley's Soma
I just finished A Brave New World. Are we sure it wasn't published in 2032 instead of 1932? Huxley's insights into the modern world are uncanny. For those who aren't familiar: Soma is a readily available drug that helps their society "escape" from pain or boredom. When the characters are facing a problem, or they want to escape negative feelings, they take soma. They escape from reality. Soma takes them from the challenges of life and delivers them to a psychologically better place. All is "well." It's tragic to see. When one character wants to avoid escaping the realities of life with the drug, another thought he was going mad. Why would you not want to escape?
"Now—such is progress...the old men have no time, no leisure from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think—or if ever by some unlucky change such a crevice of time should yawn in the solid substance of their distractions, there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon; returning whence they find themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction..." (55-56)
Our soma is the smartphone. The similarities are eerie. When we get bored, we pull out our phone. When we get stressed, we pull out our phone. We might take half a gram (a quick email check). Or we might take two grammes (a 1-hour YouTube or social media rabbit trail).
This is why the classics are great. They have a life that extends far beyond their original time and place.