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> Next time you’re in a restaurant with friends, have everyone put their phones stacked and face down in the center of the table. If anyone takes their phone of
by dictum 13y ago
> Next time you’re in a restaurant with friends, have everyone put their phones stacked and face down in the center of the table. If anyone takes their phone off of the stack during the meal, they have to pay everyone else’s bill. It’s a fun way to make sure everyone is off their phone without seeming like an imposing ass.
If what keeps people from checking their phone is the threat of having to foot an expensive bill, it's not so much a society of phone zombies, but a society of people with no self control.
- endianswap 13y agoWith a term like zombies, it's implied that there's a shortage of self-control at play. The risk of paying the bill can be seen as simply a training exercise to build confidence in a non-phone experience. Baby steps!
- graeme 13y agoDo you have zero addictions? Are you a perfect, rational person that never does anything against their better judgment? If so, congratulations. As for myself, I have no problem avoiding sugar, bad foods, alcohol, lottery tickets, cigarettes, drugs. I have dodged all those bullets. But the internet has a hold on me. I want to use it less, but it's compelling. Some people don't have that, but they suffer other compulsions. Unless you have zero compulsions, I would not be so quick to judge others.
- dictum 13y agoI'm not judging other people. I think it's a crisis of self control for me as much as it is for other people. I'm still undecided on whether stuff is getting more addictive (http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html), or we're losing our ability to control ourselves, or both.
- graeme 13y agoI see, I misunderstood what you were getting at. I thought you were looking down on those with no self control.
- mildtrepidation 13y agoThis attitude is maddening. You're not perfect, so you have no place pointing out other people's flaws? Ridiculous! This is also the third time I've seen it expressed in the last half hour. Where do people get the idea that no one should be allowed to criticize them unless the critic is a flawless person? Is this the result of the "you're a special person" upbringing many of us suffered through? Are you a perfect programmer? No? Then shut up, my code works. Are you a perfect father? No? Then shut up, my kid's behavior is none of your business. Are you a perfect driver? No? Then shut up, dotted lines are just suggestions. No one is perfect. If you can't deal with criticism, consider it a reflection on YOUR character, not anyone else's.
- Houshalter 13y agoThe above comment seemed condescending. Like it isn't a real problem, just something for people with a certain character flaw which implies that it's their fault. He added more in another comment and rereading it I think it's correct, but that's how it came off the first time I read it too.
- egypturnash 13y agoWell, yes. Growing up surrounded by messages to constantly BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY ON IMPULSE BUY RIGHT NOW kinda erodes self control. If the phone-stacking trick works, then it's a useful hack to retrain ourselves - at least for a moment - out of this constant impulsive consumerist haze.