The Center for Humane Technology is made up of people who created many popular apps(软件)for big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter. 【小题1】

The center has started a movement called the Truth About Tech. Its purpose is to teach students, parents and teachers about the dangers of spending too much time on smart phones and computers.

According to studies on kids and technology, more than 95 per cent of primary school children spend time every day using a computer, or smart phone. About 78 per cent of teenagers check their phones every hour. 【小题2】 They are afraid that they may miss an important call or message during night.

【小题3】 For example, spending too much time online can cause people to put on weight and also influence how they feel. Many people become worried or nervous because they feel they aren’t having as much fun as their friends are. 【小题4】 They may also find it harder to make friends in real life.

【小题5】 They say that when big tech companies are designing tech tools for kids, they should think about what they would want for their own children.

Enjoying her tea and book, a young woman sits alone in a café. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad and then shows her words to a passing café waiter: “Where are the toilets please?” This is a very scene in Tokyo’s so-called “silent cafes”, where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.

Although some people don’t like silent cafes, the concept gains its popularity by a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainty, a shift in traditional family support structures. The growing social isolation also contributing to its appearance, young people get used to the saying “Leave me alone.” The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation—free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a “one woman wedding” —a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression—“botchi-zoku”, referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.

In order to enjoy some solo time, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off. When asked about the reason, Miss Higashikokubaru said: “I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it’s always very busy and tough. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it’s a big and fast-paced city, which I don’t always like. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I’m going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere.”

“Hi, how are ya,” some people say when they see a familiar face. The words run together into a mass, all sense and meaning lost. All the same, people do care how you are. After they greet you, it’s likely you will greet them back, with an equally meaningless phrase like, “Can’t complain, can’t complain.” You could probably complain, at length, or share a brilliant thought you were just beginning when a greeting interrupted you. You don’t though, you say, “Great, you?”

You are not giving each other information about your health and well-being. All the same, you are sharing information. You’re acknowledging each other’s positions as acknowledged friends, or at least as accepted acquaintances. And you are reestablishing the ties that may have lapsed since yesterday.

It’s what anthropologist Bronislaw Malinoski called a phatic communication. Its message is not in the words you use, but in the fact that you speak ritually accepted words. In Asia, for example, people may ask one another if they have eaten, or if they are busy. They’re not really asking for their lunch menu or their agenda, they are saying hello. A phatic signal says hi.

There’s embarrassment of being near people without acknowledging them. That uncomfortable feeling is one reason why lonely passengers in the subway may behave as if they cannot see anyone around them or may escape their uncomfortable situation with a book. Some people read all the way home, and never turn a page.

Your friend isn’t asking how you are, and you aren’t telling him. However, he is recognizing your existence, and when you answer, you are recognizing his. In addition, the set speech you have shared opens the door to closer communications if both agree. Someday, you may come to real close friendship, and really tell one another how you are.

Meanwhile, people who greet one another this way do care. They care enough to recognize someone’s essential humanity. They send a signal across the space between, to share, very briefly and lightly, in awareness of one another.

Your greetings prove that neither of you has become a social outcast. How are you? You are still a member of society in good status. You are still the one who knows the rituals necessary to get to work each day.