When I came back after living in Finland and China for 9 years altogether, I found crowded public space - which is pretty much everywhere in central Tokyo - quite painful. There was no way I can filter the conversation any more, and regardless of the topic, I was forced to listen. But eventually, I realized that was not the only thing I need filtering. In crowded morning trains, I was also looking at other people's privacy over their shoulders, unless I make an effort by closing my eyes or looking elsewhere, I often come across with other people's text messages and browsed websites.
Ten years ago, when there were still people without mobile phones, we still saw quite many people reading newspapers on trains and metros. Typically they were men reading supootsu-shinbun (sport newspapers) which are basically tabloids. Although the cover page was about sports, a significant proportion of the paper was more like playboy magazine, full of naked women. And how do I know that while I have never bought those papers? That is because I could see them as I shared the same cargo with their readers.
Now the media might have changed and although the device maybe small, it seems like I can even see better than papers, with the display so brightly lit.
In order to protect the privacy when you are so close with strangers, here in Japan, you can you can now buy 'privacy filter', which comes in so many different shapes and sizes. The filter serves as a protective filter, too, but the primary functionality is to shut the view when seen from a certain angle. And now, many mobiles come with this feature automatically. From View Blind by Panasonic, Privacy Angle by NEC, to Veil View by Sharp, displays become foggy with a long press of a button. Once the filter goes active, it will look like as if you went into a steam bath without taking your glasses off.
Pity, all the Japanese phones nowadays come with displays that are 3 inches or bigger. It is so clear and pixels are so dense, that you can even read A4 PDF files quite well. But obviously, here people to demand the display to be not TOO clear.
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