Grace Dent: 'The selfie stick is one of the darkest points in humanity'

 
Turn it off: Grace Dent is calling on Londoners to put down their phones (Picture: London Live)
Alexandra Rucki11 March 2015

Journalist and author Grace Dent is calling on Londoners to put down their mobile phones and live for the moment.

Ms Dent made the comments after research revealed 63 per cent of people living in the capital are missing out on important moments because they are too busy checking their phones.

The food critic told London Live she has radically cut down on her internet usage and described the selfie stick as “one of the darkest points in humanity”.

She said: “It’s not just missing one moment of your life, it is your entire life….I just think we all need to live more in the moment.

“It sounds like I am saying something quite radical here, but I’m not, I’m just saying put down your phones, maybe take Twitter and Facebook off your phone. Maybe speak to people.”

The author, who wrote How to Leave Twitter (My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop) in 2011, said she believes the constant stream of communication can affect mental health.

She said: “It’s a scary thing to be alone with your thoughts maybe.

“There is something big going on here - we are kind of quite lost in our phones.

“We are lost checking on other people lives, we are lost in envy, we are lost in jealously of what other people have got. We are lost in other people’s thoughts and not having our own.”

Ms Dent will be speaking at new festival Innocent Un-plugged which bans attendees from using their mobile phones.

The free festival is taking place at a secret London location from May 23-24.

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