I find the rise of video and podcasts quite tragic actually. Destroying our collective attention spans year on year.
I understand the idea, listening to something while driving, walking, etc.
It just doesn't work for me at all. I zone out during boring bits, zone out during interesting bits following my thoughts, and generally lose interest if the narrator/dialogue is too slow (they usually are).
It's crazy how quickly society has shifted. We used to chide people who had their nose buried in a book as socially awkward. Now, everyone has their nose buried in a phone.
You used to have social interactions when waiting anywhere. That doesn't really happen anymore. Seems like everyone would rather be distracted by something on their phone.
The ability to be bored has become a rare and valuable skill.
London perfected ignoring everybody long before even the rise of mass circulation newspapers according to diaries of family who knew the place a hundred years ago. The Tube of the eighties celebrated the apotheosis of ignoring one another and the British seem to make a art form out of studious but "polite" asociability* in every queue.
Actually reading this discussion I've realized that I have seen almost nobody using headphones in London in recent years, eliminating possibly the highest barrier to interaction. Curiouser I have most recently only noticed people glued to their phones whilst walking not standing at the bus stop.
*as opposed to anti social manners for clarity
Everywhere else in the US, it used to be the case that you would make small talk with people while waiting at the doctor's office, in barbershops, in the line at the grocery store, wherever.