Illustrations: Peter C. Espina/GT

How many hours do you spend on your mobile phone every day? A report released at the seventh China Internet Audio & Video Convention on May 27 in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, puts the average screen time of Chinese netizens in 2018 at about 5 hours 40 minutes, one hour more than the previous year. Video dominates Chinese people's web browsing on mobile phones, says the report. The number of video website users in China has reached 725 million. In particular, with the abrupt rise of short video platforms such as Tik Tok, short video has surpassed long video in terms of screen time for the first time, subverting audio-visual communication trend. Rapid pace, fragmentation, and straightforwardness are becoming the trend. Fast-developing internet and technology does offer people considerable convenience, but may at the same time cause alienation and isolation. If we spend almost a quarter of a day on phone, how many hours do we have to give our family company? Filled with "fast food," can our brains digest any more deep thinking? These are problems worth pondering.