Smart But Upsetting Short Film About Smartphone Overuse

Picture the following scenes: Lying in bed with a loved one. Chatting with friends over brunch. Watching the sun glow after a long hike. Receiving a marriage proposal on the beach. This short film, called “I Forgot My Phone,” depicts these scenes with one jarring, all too familiar addition: cell phones, which invariably eclipse the main event.


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Running to just over two minutes, the video isn’t showing us anything we haven’t seen before – or experienced ourselves. But it seems to have hit a nerve, garnering more than 7.5 million views since it launched on YouTube on Aug. 22


Directed by Miles Crawford, the video stars Filipina-American Charlene deGuzman, a 29-year-old actress and comedian based in Los Angeles.