Things Lost to Connectivity

[qtlaw]

I usually drove to work but since I’ve got a party tonight decided to take public transit. I forgot how interesting people watching can be. Bummer. So many sliding door opportunities lost while people look at their screens.

 

[britwrit]

I live in a big city and haven't had a license in years. It is fascinating the effect that cell phones have had on public transport.

I've seen a lot less casual chit-chat - even for the big cold city. On the other hand, the black looks of despair in the morning commute have faded now that people have something to occupy themselves with.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

My break room at work, you get five or six people on there, most everyone is on their phone, no one talking. Except a couple people who literally talk nonstop to anyone about anything.

We even have a landline in there where people would be tracked down sometimes. I don’t think it’s rung in 10 years.

 

[DanOregon]

It always makes me feel awkward when people have very public conversations on their phone in public - the Facetime stuff. It weird right?

 

[FileNotFound]

It always makes me feel awkward when people have very public conversations on their phone in public - the Facetime stuff. It weird right?

I feel this too, but is it any more weird than if the person on the phone is there in person? At least you can hear both ends of the conversation.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Our new upstairs neighbors went away yesterday and asked if we could collect their mail while they're away. It reminded me of how people would pause their newspaper subscriptions while they were on vacation decades ago, and then pick up all the papers when they got back so they could catch up on what happened. (My Dad still collects the papers for his neighbors when they go away) Our new neighbors are in their 20s and have probably never read a newspaper in their lives.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Our new upstairs neighbors went away yesterday and asked if we could collect their mail while they're away. It reminded me of how people would pause their newspaper subscriptions while they were on vacation decades ago, and then pick up all the papers when they got back so they could catch up on what happened. (My Dad still collects the papers for his neighbors when they go away) Our new neighbors are in their 20s and have probably never read a newspaper in their lives.

Do they know you can have the post office hold your mail while you’re gone?

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Our new upstairs neighbors went away yesterday and asked if we could collect their mail while they're away.

How about the fact that we don't know our neighbors the way we did 20 years ago.

 

[ChrisLong]

Do they know you can have the post office hold your mail while you’re gone?

Lots of stories about post office workers telling their unscrupulous friends who is on vacation and what their address is.

 

[User 1019]

How about the fact that we don't know our neighbors the way we did 20 years ago.

I absolutely agree with this.

Mrs. t_b_f absolutely shocked me last weekend when she said of all the places we've lived, this is her least favorite, simply because we don't have the interaction with and connection to our neighbors like we've had in other places.

 

[Cosmo]

It always makes me feel awkward when people have very public conversations on their phone in public - the Facetime stuff. It weird right?

I was taking Amtrak from NYC back to Richmond on Sunday, and the woman in the seat in front of me was having a full-blown, no headphones, Facetime convo with her son at college. Like what in the actual ****? I almost starting chiming in to give some advice to little Johnny about his physics final. FFS people, no one wants to hear that conversation on a crowded train.

My add to this: People who can't get off their ******* phones when they're walking. I walk a lot in our city, and the amount of times I have to alert someone that they're about to walk straight into me because they can't peel their face away from their phone is mind boggling.

Get off my lawn and ****, but our addiction to screens is really, really bad. It's made us a very anti-social society. Had a couple of friends ask why I didn't post more videos from Massive Nights last weekend, and I was like, because I wanted to enjoy the damn concerts without trying to film them? Novel concept, I know.

 

[User 1019]

I give phone walkers a good shoulder check and tell them to pay attention to where they’re walking. Absolutely infuriating.

 

[playthrough]

How about the fact that we don't know our neighbors the way we did 20 years ago.

We had a prolonged (non-catastrophe) power outage one night last year and everyone was outside talking to each other. That's what it takes now.

 

[Driftwood]

I guess I'm the wrong person for this thread because I've been social distancing for most of my life.
Also, I hate phones ever so slightly more than I do people.

 

[playthrough]

Also: a good sports reaction photo anywhere now except the Masters.

 

[DanOregon]

When pedestrians are facetiming and are crossing the street is the worst. Going through a checkout line at the grocery store, in a doctors office, I mean shoot, seriously?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

How about the fact that we don't know our neighbors the way we did 20 years ago.

I live in a historic neighborhood. Our backyards are small, which forces families with kids into the front yards and/or driveways and streets. We know all everybody on our street and - thanks to the nature of our overall neighborhood - know a lot of people within walking distance. It takes effort - especially since we all retreat indoors this time of year - but we make it.

 

[swingline]

How about the fact that we don't know our neighbors the way we did 20 years ago.

Twenty years ago, a “neighbor” let her kid drive a riding lawnmower around the yard at 10 p.m. It was a nice Salmon Creek neighborhood, but they were pure white trash.

 

[qtlaw]

When pedestrians are facetiming and are crossing the street is the worst. Going through a checkout line at the grocery store, in a doctors office, I mean shoot, seriously?

I remember when phones were first a "thing" and people started using them while other people were around and I thought "what the person on the phone is more important than those of us right in front of you??" Yep, that's when I started to think we were doomed.

 

[BTExpress]

Going through a checkout line at the grocery store.

Well, there was a period where everything I tried to buy at the Publix across the street from my work with my debit card was initally declined, and I got a text asking if it was me who shelled out the $5.79 for a package of Laffy Taffy. So I had to click that yes, it was me, before trying again.

So anyone looking at me going through that ritual probably thought I was one of those people who couldn't tear himself away from his screen.