As someone who has to regularly commute one of these lines… doing “nothing” does become very dull after a while.

I think this thread is a little overblown. Some people will do nothing, read a book, listen to music, or nap. But the easiest thing to fall back to is your phone, especially for a monotonous daily commute.

I do at least try to be productive when using the phone, such as practicing my Japanese. But I think it’s totally normal to stare at the ground and listen to music etc.