When you first see all this stuff it's quite impressive, but after a few months of being bombarded by it everywhere it begins to look quite tacky, tasteless and well, quite wasteful. If all these light displays were removed I'm pretty sure China could half it's electricity consumption, and shut down a few thousand coal power plants, and hey, give the people some cleaner air to breathe! It makes me wonder if people would install neon lights upon their own houses if they had the money, or use them to decorate a christmas tree.
The addiction to bright and flashing lights is also seen in the love affair with smart phones and tablets. I realize people everywhere the world over are becoming slaves to their smart phones, but I get the impression that in Asian countries it's a lot worse. In public spaces not staring at a screen in front of you is now the exception! And what's worse, whenever I've stolen a look at what people are doing on their phones it's usually someone playing a game (usually a card game) or watching a tv show. I"m even starting to see people walking around while watching their TV shows or movies on their tablets with earphones in, all the while almost running into everyone and everything around them. Then theres the couples that spend ''quality time'' by watching or playing games together, or entire tables of ''friends'' at cafes or bars all doing their own thing on their mobiles or tablets. It's quite a disturbing development in society! All this staring at screens and lights also explains why most asian people have to wear correctional lenses!One of the reasons why a lot of Chinese retreat into their mobile phones and tablets is that their communication and social skills are not very strong, especially amongst generations born after the one child policy was implemented. Growing up without a sibbling to communicate and play with removes many of the opportunities to interact 24/7 with someone of a similar age to you. Secondly, Chinese children are under so much pressure to study and/or do extracurricular activities, that they hardly have a chance to play and develop those social skills.
The poor communication and social skills of people is something thats widely recongnized in China, not just by all foreigners who live here but by the local Chinese themselves. Many a time during class I've asked my students questions about Chinese society or about their childhoods, and I find a lot of them giving frank reflections on their own inward personalities or about their own perceptions of Chinese society. I even posed a question last week to my classes, asking them what compulsory subject or skill they would like to see taught in all schools? Many of them answered; communication classes.
Also, recently theres been a spate of murders and attacks committed by university roommates upon one another. In one case a student stabbed his roommate in a fit of rage after his roommate ignored him knocking on the door for a long period of time. Apparently his roommate was engrossed in, yep you guessed it, a computer game.
http://www.ibtimes.com/three-deaths-one-week-chinese-college-campuses-1202311#http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/776968.shtml#.UX7Ah8oTZS4
Of course, not all students here harbor thoughts of murdering their roommates, but it does highlight some of the serious social problems and deficiencies of Chinese youth.
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