How smart is it to marry your phone?

The convention about marriages these days is that there are no conventions; there are no stereotypes any more about any aspect. Indeed, the manner in which the institution and its ceremonies have changed is admirable. That is why the decision of an American to symbolically wed his smartphone rings true. Marriage is about companionship, commitment, partnership, closeness, understanding and, most of all, communication. And it cannot be denied that the intense live-in relationships between people and their smartphones fulfil all these criteria and then some. Engaged as humans are with smartphones, opting for a permanent connection rather than getting hung up in love triangles — as often happens unwittingly today — makes sense.

A study by two European universities released this May revealed that 37.4% of the participants considered their smartphones to be as important as their close friends, 29.4% of them ranked them alongside their parents, and 21.2% assessed them to be as dear as their partners. Although only 1.1% deemed smartphones to be the most important thing in their lives, the value of these gadgets today needs no further reiteration. However, there is no guarantee that the man — like many other smartphone lovers — will not trade in his ‘spouse’ for a newer model sometime in the future.