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A man gets Bay Area commuters off their phones
- skilled 7y agoCrazy stuff. To think that society at large has become so self-unaware as to bury themselves in the illusion of attention and acceptance. It speaks volumes about the attitude that 'we' have towards people outside of our families and immediate circle of friends. The good news is that this will, and likely has already, spur a lot of positive change. Sometimes, it can take a while to notice shit swept under the rug, but once it starts to reek, you have no choice but to clean it up.
- eindiran 7y agoI don't think this is a fair criticism in this particular case. I ride the Caltrain and Bart 5 days a week, for about 3 hours per day. I have never once seen a train car where everyone was looking at their phones. I see people talking with those accompanying them, reading books, grading their students' homework, programming on their laptops, staring out the window, listening to music, people-watching, trying to avoid the ticket checkers, asking other passengers about which stop to get off at or about their dog. Other cities I've lived in or visited also don't seem to have everyone glued to their phones. On a particularly bad day perhaps 60% of people will be looking at their phones. On a good day maybe just 1 or 2 will be. I think people have this image in their heads of some imagined past where strangers made friendly banter on public transit, before technology got in the way. But people were never idyllically friendly with one another on the train and not everyone today is blindly tapping away at Angry Birds or Snapchat.