We’re All Teenage Girls Now

This article just seems like unproductive, sexist speculation. We've all noticed that people use their phones extensively in public spaces, and there's been a lot of analysis of what that might mean. This article doesn't seem to add to that conversation.

For example, the author is dismissive of his sister's conversations with friends without considering why they were so important to her. Even if a lot of it is inane, the social bonds that were likely being formed were not.

Another unhelpful aspect is that it uses a false dichotomy between socializing online and in the real world. For all the author knows, all of the texting and messaging he witnessed was between people who see each other in person regularly.

Lol this guy was so upset that a random lady on the train didn’t look at him that he wrote a whole blog about it? I’ll never understand this point of view. Omg people look at their phones too much so they don’t experience real life..give me a break dude.

This is kinda creepy. I'm glad this person and their public transportation shadow/muse never made eye contact, because she probably would have made a nasty face or stuck out her tongue and we'd be reading about how we're all preteen girls now.

Was reading Freud on the bus this morning and wondering why teenage girls are that way.

> thee of them are dogs

Just wait a couple of years, and 90% of your “friends” will be generated by an AI.

not paying attention to your surrounding on mass transit is an easy way to get your phone stolen

I've noticed people who are glued to their phones are typically awkward around people, many are very depressed and unhappy, and most have few if any real life accomplishments. I don't mean Nobel prizes either. I mean like, planted a garden or made a pie from scratch to share with friends. How could they? They have no time left after spending all day on their phones.

I gave a new neighbor a bag of potatoes that I grew in my yard as a welcome gift when I went to introduce myself. At first she was puzzled about why I would go to the store to buy her potatoes, until I explained that I grew them. Then I could tell that she had no idea what to do with raw potatoes. Then her phone buzzed and she stopped interacting with me. She didn't say thank you or bid me farewell. I just had to walk away from the entirely awkward interaction. She tapped away on the screen in her doorway, oblivious to the world around her as I left.