Comment by marttt | Hacker News Reader

Comment by marttt | Hacker News Reader

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I remember wondering whether this photo with the elderly lady was a fake: https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20159...

I've intentionally never owned a smartphone myself. Our kids don't have it either. It is always fun to suddenly notice during train trips that we're more or less the only family here occupied with actual, real-life talking that also involves actual eye contact, lol.

That being said, maybe the communication pattern of two smartphone users sitting side by side is nonetheless still signaling the same humanly care, warmth, etc. Yes, there is a (IMO silly) technical device in between, but I'm not sure if all this would actually mean that it is "less humane" etc. It's just... different. Maybe.

I remember train commutes where everyone was reading a book or newspaper instead of looking at their phone.

There's nothing special about phones (in this sense). Most people just aren't interested in interacting with the other people around them. Or that might just be the famous British Reserve in action.

"Most people just aren't interested in interacting with the other people around them."

Very good point, thanks for this. Might indeed be first and foremost simply a personality trait (they would have been "introverts" and reluctant to conversation also in the pre-smartphones era, or even in the 19th century).

I used to have a smartphone and have basically gotten rid of it. I'll tell you the main difference between taking a train/bus/whatever with a phone vs a book:

The book ends.

You may be engrossed for a while, or a long while, or even a very long while, but eventually you get bored. You have to close it for a while and look around, or talk to someone, or just sit there.

A phone with internet is infinite. You get bored of (a) and then you can go to (b) then (c) then back to (a) for hours and hours and hours and hours on end.

I read my book for ~5 hours last night. I've never scrolled for that long. I might be odd though.

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