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I know it's considered a necessity by most, but I used to relish the time I had to spend on the NYC subway precisely because there was no cell coverage and I could read a book without the strong temptation to dick around on my phone.

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I travelled into London by train recently for the first time in 15 years. 95% of commuters were staring at their phones. Perhaps previously they were staring at newspapers etc. I don’t know. I don’t recall people walking and reading newspapers though. Or while driving. Or when socialising with friends. Anyways, for me it was a depressing sight. The view out of the train window wasn’t.

Yeah, but what else can you do? I stare out of the window sometimes but it gets old when you're commuting 2+ hours a day. I would find it difficult to read a book in a distracting environment like public transport, plus I have to switch between multiple trains which would tear me out of focus. Can't always get a seat either.

I know that doing random shit on my phone during my commute absolutely fries my attention span, but I don't have any solution.

In the tube, if you stare out of the window it is just black anyway so there is nothing to even look at, plus the seats (if you are lucky to get one) face away from the windows anyway.

I would find it difficult to read a book in a distracting environment like public transport

Try it - I find that I get most engrossed in a book on the Tube. Main problem is the risk of missing your stop

Tube time is great podcast time.

Solitary thinking and reflecting, I guess.

I can do plenty of that while working ;-)

At least for me on my commute, that time on the train is a golden opportunity to triage my inbox and get ready for when I "hit the ground" at the office.

Plus who knows what those people were doing on their phones - sure some people are just watching netflix or whatever, but I have seen many people doing things like learning languages or learning to play piano etc: things that most people would say are laudable pursuits and which would not have been possible without phones.

Sure I get it. I’ve just not commuted since the iPhone was first released.

Imagine for a moment that we don't use our hands to use a device: you wake up one morning, board a train and everyone has a head-harness holding a rectangle in front of their eyes. It’s a very strange sight. But I’m old and my days are numbered; this isn’t my world.

There was a time not long ago when subways had those free newspapers ("Metro" etc), and people would read them (and they would clutter the place).

What's wrong with people being on their phone though? I barely use my phone, but if I'm in a tunnel and there is nowhere to look, yeah, I'll read a book, online news or email. I rarely socialize on the subway and I have one of those glances that make people uncomfortable.

Anecdotally: I just came back from London. Big fan of the new Elizabeth line. The Piccadilly (and most lines) low ceilings are a bit soul crushing (I'm tall, but I suspect for most people too), although I really like the character of the old stations.

Yeah I remember getting on "late" trains home (not even that late, like 8 or 9pm) and the carriages were strewn with mangled copies of the papers. Worse still was that from time to time the papers were used to disguise all manner of horrors - careful which one you pick up to read! Safer to use your phone frankly :)

FWIW every NYC subway station already has service, which I think is the most important thing. Most London Underground stations don't have service, which is super annoying as a tourist ("uh oh I forgot to map my route in advance and now I don't know where to get off or transfer").

I met a French woman on the F train (in the before-times of the late last century) who was confused about stations and needed directions, and we wound up dating. Decades later I and a half-dozen of my friends have visited her in Paris and other parts of France.

I imagine that if she had a phone, or I was staring at mine, that would never have happened.

Fortunately, airplane mode and "do not disturb" are still available wherever you go.

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