Do you remember the world without smartphones ?

@SW-User the world seemed freer, less crowded somehow

@revenant Yes, people in town would sometimes talk to each other instead of into their phones.

@SW-User that alone makes you deserve best answer.

@SW-User I had a rather eerie experience of that a few years ago.

I belong to a club that has self-catering accommodation available to members and bona-fide guest groups. One Saturday evening I was the only member present alongside a guest group of about ten or twelve members.

They barely said a word to each other, let alone to me, and I felt I could not try to talk to them.

One was busy on her lap-top, apparently for work or study. A couple in the corner were engrossed in another lap-top: probably a film or game.

The rest was each in a hermetic 'tap-tap-scroll-scroll' bubble on his or her too-smart-phone.

I think I found something to read for about two hours then went to the pub, leaving this silent order's digital scriptorium to its own isolationism.


Maybe they were conversing with each other, but had lost the skill to do so by Nature's way!

@ArishMell Hi, yes, it happens a lot. Often in a bus I'll take a quick poll of the passengers and often over half are looking down at their phones. Truth to tell, I sometimes read on my Kindle.....😀 But I do often try to chat and have got to know one or two people who often seem to be on the same bus at the same time.

We try to encourage our grandchildren to spend less time on phones and tablets but it can be a losing battle. Tat said, they do read a lot and mum takes them out and about as often as possible.

@ArishMell @SW-User yes I see that a lot too...how sad and desolate