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Comment by ip26 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not saying smartphones are never a problem. However, look at old photos of the bus or subway in the USA or UK from decades ago. Passengers were not having social hour - they were minding their own business, reading a newspaper, listening to music, staring out the window...

I'm more interested in the question of whether technology tethers us home more strongly, instead of venturing outside of our homes.

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>they were minding their own business, reading a newspaper, listening to music, staring out the window

Much better cognitively than endlessly scrolling Instagram reels YouTube shorts that are algorithms trying to keep you hooked. Sometimes I’ve seen people just open random apps and close and do nothing. It’s like a habit they are unable to let go.

Phones must be orders if magnitudes more common than newspapers. It seems that no matter where you are in the world, everyone from age 12 and up has one on them 24/7 and uses it as soon as they have 20 seconds to spare. Newspapers were something only a few adults would use, and you usually have read all the interesting parts by the time you get your second coffee.

I agree that the tendency for wanting distractions has always been present in humans, but the hyper connectivity of today's world really taps into it unlike anything else we had before. It's a different quality.

Of course, many people did read books and newspapers on the subway 20 years ago.

A significant fraction also did speak to one another sometimes, and engaged in spontaneous conversations, too.

That fraction has dropped to close to ~0% today.

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