Sandinggers are fucking insane

I had an Arab friend once that was really into video games. One of these days he got a Game Boy Colour, one or two days after the release. He invited me to the local playground to show his new console and to play some games, but when I arrived, he showed me the gameboy and it looked really rugged. I asked why is the screen all scratched if he got it just the previous day, and he replied that he puts the sand on the screen -- he scooped a handful of sand from the sandpit we were in --, and grinds it like this, then he began moving his palm all over the screen with the sand in between. At the end he shouted something in Arabic or shit and he said that it keeps him closer to his home. Then we played Smurfs.
When I visited his home later, he had one of these TVs with a small screen, packed in deep boxes, one that looks like academic oscilloscopes (it was like 15 years ago). The screen was all scratched and there was still some sand under the TV table.
What the fuck.