E.T., don’t phone home

by Damian | Jan 6, 2017 | Deep Thoughts, Pop Culture | 2 comments

Last night, a minor modern-day miracle occurred, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. (Don’t worry, I won’t break my arm patting myself on the back.) I met up with four other adults for dinner and during the course of a two-hour meal, none of us pulled out our cell phones. Shocking! Amazing! Incredible! The five of us were connected by our work on freelance projects, but two of the folks there had never met each other before, and I’d met one person there just once previously, more than a year ago. So we weren’t exactly besties… which you would think would make us more prone to turn to the phone. But somehow we managed to muddle through, carrying on what is called a “conversation.” (Look it up, millenials. And try it someday!)

It made me think of a couple of things I’ve recently read about our phone addiction. Here’s an email from marketing guru Seth Godin:

And here’s an excerpt from Talking As Fast As I Can, a new book from Lauren Graham, where she’s channeling her inner old fogey, whom she calls “Old Lady Jackson”:

Amen, Old Lady Jackson. Stop by anytime for a cup of tea. We’ll chew the fat… and we won’t take a photo of the fat first to post on Instagram.