Mobile phones in the lineup. Here’s something that I had never seen in decades, but I shouldn’t be surprised at all.

This is a real story of a very unusual event I witnessed just yesterday, as I paddled out at my home break for a late summer sunset surfing session.

One of the reasons why I haven’t surfed as much as I could is that I have been somehow feeling disappointed and blue about the path the surf culture has been taking.

I truly believe that social media is ruining surfing. Or, at least, the experience of surfing as a healthy getaway from our demanding daily lives.

A recent study published in Portugal about the time spent by high school students in front of screens revealed frightening figures.

“Four hours on cell phones, three hours on social media, two hours watching television, two hours on the computer/tablet, one hour watching videos, one hour listening to music, one hour playing video games, and 30 minutes reading books and reading/watching or listening to the news is the average time that 1,131 children and young people, aged 11 to 19, say they spend on media-related activities on a ‘normal’ weekday,” note Sara Pereira and Daniel Brandão, researchers at the Center for Communication and Society Studies, Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Minho in Portugal.

“A significant portion of this sample acknowledges their dependence on cell phones.”

“Listening to the radio, listening to podcasts, and reading newspapers in print or online are activities to which the sample spends almost no time.”

Slaves to the Screens

These figures were obtained by the bYou project (Study of Children and Young People’s Experiences and Expressions on Media) funded by the country’s Foundation for Science and Technology.

“While media consumption points to lives connected to screens, the dimension of expression and participation points to a more disconnected and less engaged audience,” the scientists add.

The conclusions shouldn’t vary much across Europe and in the United States.

Many healthcare professionals have called it a modern-day epidemic.

We’re no longer able to enjoy a beautiful sunset with ourselves without picking up a phone and shooting it for reasons we don’t even figure out.

We lost the ability to cope with boredom. We cannot stay still without any sort of stimulus. Anxiety kicks in, and the conditioned reflex makes us take the phone from our pocket.

For nothing, most times. It’s sick.

Here’s an exercise you could do. In an indoor or outdoor place with a few people, try to spot or count the number of people checking their phones.

I do it everywhere. It’s shocking.

A Smartphone in the Surf

So, yesterday, there I was, trying to score a few small waves on my funboard before the high tide sent me home.

I couldn’t help but notice a young couple taking turns on a surfboard, trying to catch waves on a shortboard.

Everything was wrong about their attempts. They were on the wrong board, and they paddled using both arms simultaneously.

You can spot kooks from a distance. And that’s fine – we’ve all been there.

The problem is that while they were taking turns, one of them was always pointing a smartphone toward their partner.

Avoiding any judgmental thoughts, I believe it was a temporary thing and just made sure to stay out of the shooting angle, as I don’t like to be shot and sent online without permission.

Time passed. I caught a few waves as the sunset melted behind my back.

The young man and the young woman kept their photo session, even though they were more interested in posing like a surfer for the camera.

At some point, the shooting session evolved into a making-out session, with the surfboard serving as a floating platform for the growing love.

As kitsch as the whole scene might have looked, my session was becoming doomed by this use of the sport I so much cherish into a banal activity.

But this is not the end.

The Surfboard of Love

As a slightly stronger northern wind kicked in, the current was pushing the lovebirds and their floating blue shortboard toward me.

The more I tried to get away from their unstoppable French kisses and intense hugs, the more it seemed the loveboat was coming after me.

A longer lefthander took me to the beach. I was gladly at a safe distance from the surfing duo.

“One last ride?” I asked myself.

And being faithful to the “one last wave” surfer tradition, I paddled out into the big orange ball that was about to descend below the horizon.

I just needed one last set. The ocean was not cooperating, but I guess fate had a message for me.

“The thing you’re about to witness will inspire your tomorrow’s op-ed about the commercialization and disposability of surfing,” I heard the Afterlife whispering in my ear.

And as I looked at the world’s most in-love couple, I saw them both sitting on the surfboard facing each other.

Both. Sitting. On. The. Same. Surfboard.

It was the sign I needed. This sensitive middle-aged surfer really had to call it quits and go home.

Surfing has been kidnapped by the age of appearances. It doesn’t matter if you surf or try to.

If you’re staring into oblivion, sitting on a fancy surfboard, and with the right sunset as a backdrop, you’re a surfer at heart.

The dictatorship of the screens and looks reveals something about ourselves. I wonder when and how we will pay the price for this dystopian reality.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com