Erosion

 

Amoy tagalong na mawaya sa passing.

It was around four in the morning in the ship’s tourist accommodation when an elderly woman placed a call. Her voice rang loudly through the cabin as she spoke to the person on the other end of the line, seemingly unaware of the passengers still asleep around her. Moments later, her husband joined in, and together they issued repeated instructions to the unseen listener. One by one, nearby passengers were startled awake, the quiet of the early morning broken by their insistent voices.

In another instance, distinct yet thematically related, there is a woman in her prime who appears to carry an adolescent spirit within her. She invests heavily in gadgets for vlogging and often presents herself with the exuberance of a BTS-screaming fan. While such expression is not bound to age, it becomes concerning when performed at the expense of her responsibilities.

These moments raise an important question: how has technology shaped our manners, as well as the way we decide and perceive the world? Are such actions manifestations of unmet needs: long-held hungers that now surface through excessive gadget use, slowly clouding our values and sense of propriety?

Scholars have noted that the pervasive use of digital technology has reshaped social behavior, often blurring boundaries of appropriateness and attentiveness in shared spaces. Turkle (2011) argues that constant connectivity can diminish face-to-face sensitivity, as individuals become more absorbed in mediated interactions than in their immediate social environment. This immersion may serve as a compensatory response to unmet emotional or psychological needs, where technology becomes a conduit for validation and self-expression. Consequently, manners and value judgments risk being obscured, not by technology itself, but by how it is used to fill personal and social voids.

Once again, the discourse on self-assessment and self-awareness resurfaces. Individuals must critically examine whether the technology they use has begun to encroach upon the values and manners they are expected to embody in shared social spaces, including those within social media.

This reflective process is crucial because unchecked technology use can gradually recalibrate social norms, normalizing behaviors once considered intrusive or discourteous. Research indicates that habitual engagement with digital devices in public and interpersonal settings reduces situational awareness and empathy, as attention is continuously divided between the physical and virtual worlds (Misra et al., 2016). Without deliberate self-regulation, individuals risk allowing convenience, validation, or visibility afforded by technology to override the ethical and social standards that sustain respectful communal interaction.

This discourse may be aptly concluded with a telling incident: during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, a phone suddenly rang. The woman who received the call not only answered it but proceeded to engage in a video call, turning her phone’s camera toward the priest at the very moment he was venerating the Body of Christ, an act that starkly underscored how digital immediacy can eclipse reverence and communal awareness.

When technology begins to speak louder than conscience, reverence, and self-restraint, it is no longer merely a tool—it becomes a quiet erosion of who we are in shared human spaces.