I do believe that smartphones will eventually be recognized as one of the worst things the species did to itself, though it isn't the fault of the phones, "obviously".
I hope not, I love knowing when the bus comes, as well as being able to walk in the random direction in the unfamiliar location without worrying about being lost. Being able to point to a tree (or a flower) and knowing what is its name is also nice.
How about you ban social networks instead? I couldn't care less about them.
This is a nice time lapse. The last two photos aren't healthy for a society. We are all withdrawing inside ourselves and into a cyberspace which isn't real and is so easily manipulated.
Of all the times and places where I'd say using your phone for distraction is not problematic, the subway would be near top of the list. What are else are you going to do? Enjoy the sounds, sights, and smells? It's not a great place for conversation even if you are with other people, and it's not a great place for meditation or reflection if you're alone.
Could read a book or a paper, though of you have your smartphone set up to not be allowed to deliver unwanted distractions from that kind of media then yeah I agree with you, there's not shit else to do on a subway. People watching is only fun to a point.
This is part of why I much prefer above ground trains, at least you get a view then.
Then just read a book or magazine. Or just take that boring time, its life that is not always funny, entertaining and colorful.
Most people have the problem of being under pressure to spend even their free time productive.
But for whom?
Boredom is healthy, spinning down your engine from constantly reving up at the street lights in life.
When i commute to work, i got an old Walkman, ancient cassette player with me, listening to an entire album of music where i cant hear the phone ringing, no notification popping up and letting me get distracted from listening to people that spent years of work to create an album of fantastic music.
Assuming that reading a physical book/printed magazine is inherently better than using your phone in the same situation is just a kind of snobbiness.
Someone in those photos could have been watching a veritasium video, or studying their college notes on their phone. Someone in the earlier years with a book could have been reading Mills and Boone.
But either way, who cares? Why are we judging what people do to pass a few minutes of their day in an inherently boring place like the subway?
As to the value of boredom, sure. But environment matters too. I think there's very little value to boredom on a subway. If you want to make a personal choice to be bored on the subway, go for it. But I don't see any valid reason to judge other people for choosing otherwise.
It’s not snobbiness. We have a mountain of literature out now showing how detrimental smartphone usage is to the human mind. Reading has no such drawbacks.
Been there, done that. Boring time in subway is totally not worth it, if you want to relax, take a walk, ideally next to the river.
As for reading a book or a magazine - this only works for the most common topics. The internet brought up significantly more interesting things - can you remeber any printed publication that was as good as danluu's essays for example?
