Observations from the Otherworldly in THE VISITOR

And, as he and Lucille walk, he notes another strange phenomenon among a large number of these humans, a sea of them it seems, who appear to be moving forward led by rectangular screens they hold in front of their eyes. It seems to Ash that these screens must be giving them directions as to where to go, or what to do, or something of that order, because they walk down the strip of sidewalk without looking up, some of them barely missing Ash and Lucille as they weave out of other beings' ways, while others walk like robotic creatures at extremely slow paces. One person stops all of the sudden and starts tapping his finger on his little screen, responding in some way, Ash imagines, to the orders of the leader or whoever is giving him his commands.

"Damned cell phones! People have no consideration!" Lucille says. "No minds of their own!" She seems very disturbed but seems to be echoing his thoughts in this regard, although the way she says it seems to infer that they actually do have minds but, maybe, are just not using them to their fullest potential. But what does he know? He's new here, “born again.” He could be wrong. He could be mistaken.

From novel THE VISITOR by Mitchell Waldman

https://www.amazon.com/Visitor-Mitche...