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Comment by chrismonsanto | Hacker News Reader

I don't know if you endorse the message behind that photo or not, but I've never taken someone out to dinner who busted out the newspaper while I was trying to talk to them.

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This is such a great idea for a response though. If in the middle of a conversation, and someone whips out their iPhone on you, BOOM...broadsheet

When I go out to eat with my Mom we usually have books/ereaders with us, and if we don't have anything to talk about, we read. We enjoy eachothers company without talking. There has been a few times when one of my sisters would join us and would offended when she took the impression that we didn't want to talk to her since we were reading rather than talking.

There is a difference of enjoying each other's company while being quiet and being rude while ignoring someone else. I wish some very talkative person wanting me to entertain them on the bus could have been entertained by their phone. I've often used books/ereaders/phone to keep others from talking to me (and enjoying reading of course). I think one major thing to discuss is not how much we're being distracted by technology, but more of how much priority we put on socializing face to face.

On the other hand, nobody who's busted out a newspaper on a train was talking to friends or family on the other end of it.

Of course, you have to try really hard to even find newspapers anymore, and people didn't "go out to dinner" carrying the paper, but yes, I do remember plenty a time when many people would lose themselves in the newspaper while at the table, for breakfast or lunch, both informal and not so informal settings. I guess I do "endorse the message behind that photo".

Indeed, plus it's a completely different social setting: public transport. Non sequitur all the way.

But do you often find people around you checking their phones while in the middle of doing something else? It seems to me that people mostly use smartphones to kill time, when they're not doing anything else; on public transport or while waiting for something, that is, just the sorts of times you'ld see people reading the newspaper.

It seems similar to how you generally don't see people whipping out an iPad in the middle of dinner. It's easier to seem not-rude while using a phone, because it's smaller.

Well, the message behind the photo is to debunk the "Oh, if only we didn't have this tech, we would just talk to one another again." Reality simply is not like that.

You beat me to the punch!

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