Knowing I would be out alone for a meal, I would have carried reading material- book, magazine, paper articles. Maybe a notebook to scribble notes.
Now, I have an internet of reading material via my phone. Or my tablet.
My family and I are close. We talk lots and often and tend to have enough context when a sentence or two needs speaking. We go out together, we chat a bit at the start of a meal, and we don’t need to speak much afterwards. We don’t get awkward, we can be quiet. But my brain continues - write a note, surface-level research on an idea … so we each look at a device for a few minutes. My daughter is keeping in touch with her significant other, my wife is likely gaming or maybe window shopping. If anyone speaks up, we pull away from the devices to talk.
I’m personally not addicted to the device itself. But I’m like Johnny 5 - my intellectual curiosity is difficult to satiate. The readily available access to “input” is what keeps me plugged in.
Back on topic: these art projects, or statements, or whatever that are designed to bring attention to our attention to our phones … interesting, fun, perhaps important. But I’m not a fan of the social nostalgia that sometimes appears in the comments. I never did just interact with strangers. Never had a meaningful conversation with a random person. I would have had my face in a book.
Now, I have an internet of reading material via my phone. Or my tablet.
My family and I are close. We talk lots and often and tend to have enough context when a sentence or two needs speaking. We go out together, we chat a bit at the start of a meal, and we don’t need to speak much afterwards. We don’t get awkward, we can be quiet. But my brain continues - write a note, surface-level research on an idea … so we each look at a device for a few minutes. My daughter is keeping in touch with her significant other, my wife is likely gaming or maybe window shopping. If anyone speaks up, we pull away from the devices to talk.
I’m personally not addicted to the device itself. But I’m like Johnny 5 - my intellectual curiosity is difficult to satiate. The readily available access to “input” is what keeps me plugged in.
Back on topic: these art projects, or statements, or whatever that are designed to bring attention to our attention to our phones … interesting, fun, perhaps important. But I’m not a fan of the social nostalgia that sometimes appears in the comments. I never did just interact with strangers. Never had a meaningful conversation with a random person. I would have had my face in a book.
In 2025, my phone is my book.