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I think it's sad that we've created a society that feels social pressure to stare at a screen when they find themselves somewhere without something to say to someone else. This explains why social skills are on the decline.

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It's always been there. Before the phone we had the walkman. Before that the newspaper. There's always something to indicate 'do not disturb'.

When I'm having a busy day I don't always feel like talking to randoms. I live in a city, not a village and I'll never know everyone.

Is it a social pressure to stare at a screen or to just pretend to be occupied with something else? Would reading a few pages of a book, for instance, satisfy this social pressure? I do agree more generally that smartphones are borderline essential for many social expectations, though. I personally find smartphones really distracting, being a device that allows for instant information at merely the hint of boredom, and if they were less socially enforced I probably wouldn’t have one.

I'm reading hn - your comment - at the doctors. I'm early, she's gonna be, of course, slightly delayed = free hn time, for me.

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