The March 4 Purim party hosted by former President Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace reflected exactly what you would expect of festivities marking the happiest holiday of the Jewish calendar. The guests arrived dressed up in fancy costumes, the bar kept dispensing drinks all around and dance music played in the background. But for a while, the evening's top attraction could be found at the far end of the entrance lobby. 

Seated, the former president welcomed his guests, unrecognizable for the most part behind the Purim masks and makeup. The guests stood in line, waiting, trying to approach the host. Each guest — even those disguised as historical figures — pulled out their cellphones and in turn took "selfies" with the former president. It seemed as if all of them, ambassadors, journalists and businessmen alike, made sure to win this "prize." What would be the point of attending a party hosted by Peres if one can't upload a photo on their Facebook page that will surely receive many likes and shares? After all, if you don't get the picture, you were never there.

The world over, people are connected to their cellphones, but in Israel, it is pathological. A survey conducted on behalf of Google indicated that in 2013 Israel was first worldwide in market penetration of mobile phones. Hananel Rosenberg, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Department of Communication and Journalism, who studies the impact of cellphones on behavior, said that Israel was at the top of the smartphone market penetration list for two whole years — leading over South Korea and Singapore.

No less than 730,000 smartphones were sold in Israel over a period of three months alone, in the third quarter of 2014. According to Rosenberg, “In recent years, Israel was [consistently] ranked first in the world in the number of mobile call minutes, and second, after Japan, in the number of apps downloaded by users. The use of cellphones among Israeli youths is even more extensive and excessive.”