
More Connected, Yet More Alone - danso
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/disruptions-more-connected-yet-more-alone/?ref=business&_r=0
======
kyro
I don't think we're going to see a cultural shift away from smartphones
anytime soon because we use them to fulfill almost all of the core human
drives, within a matter of seconds and with little to no effort. We use our
phones to acquire status, respect, praise, attention, to connect, message,
brag, to read, read, read about everything happening around us.

What's easier: keeping afloat a conversation with a few acquaintances or
tweeting a witty joke and reading up on the 20 @replies you receive? What
about taking the time to appreciate a meal, how it's plated, its flavor
combinations, or bragging about how cultured you are by posting a picture of
it to Instagram then waiting for those sweet likes to roll in?

Smartphones and the social apps they run are brain hacks. We're wired to seek
out instant gratification. They literally put us in our own mobile Skinner
box.

~~~
criley2
Anyone else glad they don't suffer from an inability to have dinner or
appreciate food just because they have a smartphone?

I guess it's unsurprising that smartphones get in the way of living life, but
it's not that hard to use them in moderation, and I'm really not so sure about
a cultural shift away from them. Maybe a cultural shift towards more
responsible usage -- and I see that cultural shift occurring already.

~~~
thrush
I totally agree. I think it's easier to put a dystopian view on smartphones,
but there are utopian perspectives as well. We can use technology to stay in
touch with the important people in our lives, and share beautiful moments. I'd
like to see the same video done where the boyfriend is facetiming with his
wife while at work, or they're both older and reliving awesome memories for
the past.

Robert Wong is the CCO at Google, and I think he has some excellent more
utopian views on how we can use technology to enhance human relationships.
Granted, it may be his job to do so in order to help Google sell their
products, but I don't think that should discredit his views.

Here are some video interviews with him:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V7f0ufstJs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V7f0ufstJs)
(4:51)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIPk6vIwv0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIPk6vIwv0)
(1:09:03)

------
oinksoft
I've noticed this as a "dumb-phone" user who often forgets it at home. Walking
around with your head up, you feel like you're amongst a bunch of half-asleep
people. You can look right at somebody and they won't notice you. Lots of
bumping into each other, not making way for somebody who needs to get by,
things like that. Many people who are engrossed in their phones don't react to
loud noises or other things happening that are out of the ordinary. It can be
unsettling.

~~~
AznHisoka
In a way, I think it's a modern way of filtering things that we don't care
about day to day. Do we really wanna sit on a subway in silence twiddling our
thumbs, and daydream? Do we really wanna wait on line for a few mins, staring
at other annoying strangers ahead of us?

Using our smartphones when we're in the presence of friends/family is one
thing. But using it during times of inactivity, to me is harmless.

~~~
potatolicious
> _" But using it during times of inactivity, to me is harmless."_

Until the definition of "inactivity" starts to creep, wider and wider. I've
noticed that with myself and people I know, that's for sure.

Stealing a bit from the video itself - you're bowling and everyone disappears
into smartphone-land while waiting their turn. I've seen this actually happen
IRL, so it's far from a farfetched hypothetical. In the old days you used to
use this time to, god forbid, talk to someone and make a friend.

Or you're at a party where you don't know enough people. Pre-smartphone you'd
get sick of being a wallflower and some point, go "fuck it", and introduce
yourself to somebody. Now you can just slink into smartphone-land. I've done
it, I'm sure others here have too.

"Inactivity" is a weird concept. Short of being in a sensory deprivation
chamber, there are very few moments in life where you're actually
involuntarily inactive.

A few months ago I tossed my earbuds in the trash. I no longer listen to music
(or podcasts, or whatever) on the move. I'm more present, less tuned out, and
I've learned some things and had some spontaneous interactions that are worth
more to me than listening to music I've already heard many times before. I
like it. People complained about the reduction in engagement when the iPod
rolled around and everyone suddenly had earplugs on full-time. At the time a
lot of people thought society would grow out of it and the fad of being
disconnected full-time would go away.

It did. We discovered smartphones instead.

~~~
briancaw2
The last time I went to a bar I went up to order a drink and all 6
20-somethings at the bar were on their iphones (that's 6 individuals, at a
place of social gathering).

The destruction of presence is more than just lack of eye contact. Not so long
ago certain people could enter a room and demand attention - they were social
beings whose mere presence affected brain waves and nervous systems. Their
presence was sharp.

I don't see that anymore. People are dulling. They recede to the safety of a
screen because it offers a way of saying - 'I don't need you, cooler things
and people are in my phone'. We're in a perpetual standoff.

The problem with a free market is that consumers do not always know what is
best for them. Local maxima rule the day. We need narrative, insight, and
leadership to provide the activation energy to get ourselves out of the social
wasteland we have created.

------
danso
I was mugged this past year and for months had nothing but my "Wire"-like-
burner-flip-phone. It couldn't do squat except take calls and simple
texts...if a friend tried to send a photo text to me, my phone would basically
reject it. Quite honestly, I found the lack of functionality to be a pretty
pleasant period in my life. The main inconvenience was not being able to look
up things, like directions, after I left home or work...but that just forced
me to be better prepared...(It's kind of astonishing that in a decade, we'll
have adults who grew up never having to write things down or pre-plan where to
rendezvous). In a worst case scenario, I used Google's SMS search (which
closed down recently, alas: [http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/12/google-kills-
sms-search/](http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/12/google-kills-sms-search/)).

Now that I finally got a new Android phone, I have to force myself to check
it, which is a nice change of mindset. Previously, I had been pretty glued to
my phone, to the point where I had to hide my Facebook password from myself
(i.e. pasting it into a desktop text file, for login via desktop only) so that
I wouldn't reflexively check for new updates.

------
sixQuarks
Why is this so bad? This is a natural evolution of the human race as we
integrate technology into our lives. The next 10-15 years will probably be
looked back on as a time when we were adjusting to this "virtual" world. It
will seem barbaric that we were interacting with this world through our tiny
little mobile devices. In the future, our online experiences will not be
distinguishable from the "real" world. No use fighting it, it's just a natural
evolution.

~~~
eruditely
So flawed, pretending to know what direction of evolution looks like.

~~~
sixQuarks
damn right, I'm god. And you only exist in my imagination anyway.

------
fleaflicker
There's a tremendous Louis CK bit about this trend:

[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zd2sRC3K9Hs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatc...](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zd2sRC3K9Hs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dzd2sRC3K9Hs)

------
zyxley
I wonder what results you'd get if you separately polled, say, under-25s and
over-25s on whether the increasing use of smartphones in public is a bad
thing.

I also wonder if complaints about "people have their heads in books all the
time, they don't talk to each other!" were a common thing when novels began to
be broadly popular in the 18th century.

~~~
djloche
The cause of concern is what appears to be lack of moderation combined with
disregard for others. Using smartphones in public? Fine. Using smartphones in
public such that you bump into other people/things and disrupt others? Not
cool. You can replace 'using smartphones' with 'reading' and it works the same
way.

------
gyom
The bowling example reminded me of how all the problems about bowling as a
group activity. It's rather easy to imagine why these people are on their
phones instead of chatting together or cheering for the other players.

1) You are often playing against the other players. When your friend gets a
strike, it generally means that these points are scored against you. That
makes it a little hard to be enthusiastic about your friend getting a lucky
strike. Two-player coop in games is great because you get to win together.

2) The ball is pulled from your hands the moment you start getting into the
motion. Then it's back to more downtime. Bowling with friends is almost 80%
downtime, but it's just short enough that you might consider just sitting it
through and not necessarily engaging in conversation with someone that you
don't really know.

3) When you do have a good conversation going, the last thing you want to do
is to have to leave it there to go throw the ball at the pins for a minute and
have a hard time resuming the conversation afterwards.

~~~
paganel
I've only played bowling once or twice, and while I agree it's not the most
entertaining sport ever I thought one of its most compelling use-cases was to
bring people together.

Yes, you might be "less enthusiastic" when your friend gets a lucky strike,
but that's the whole point, you don't go there as a professional player keen
to win no matter what, what you did describe would be the perfect moment to
make fun of said friend, a third friend might reply that "you're jealous cause
he's better than you" etc etc, I mean things that people usually talk with
friends and that do make life less stressful.

~~~
gyom
I agree that playing to win isn't the right approach to have fun at bowling
with new friends. I still find that's it's hard to care about the game (to
enjoy your own good moves), and then at the same time not care about who's
winning.

I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like we're playing bowling because of
tradition. Someone could come up with a better-designed game, maybe involving
pins and balls, played in a bowling alley. People would still enjoy feeling
like they're going out and having fun, but they'd be playing a more compelling
version of bowling.

------
ef4
"This isn’t about the problems of digital connection, it’s about propping
oneself up as more human and alive. By identifying with and sharing the video,
we can put ourselves in the protagonist’s shoes. 'I too recognize this! I am
human and deep and carpe diem.' But let’s consider the implication of showing
others as robots who don’t live in the moment: you are basically saying they
are less human in order to assert how above the unthinking-cellphone-zombie
masses you are. Human connection, togetherness, and in-the-moment experience
isn’t going away, indeed, we cherish it more than ever. Rad. But, then, more
than that, we’ve become obsessed with it, treating the real as a fetish
object, all in the name of appealing to the deeply conservative impulse to
rank who is more or less human."

[http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/08/26/the-
proble...](http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/08/26/the-problem-with-
the-i-forgot-my-phone-video/)

~~~
mbrock
I used to think Nathan Jurgenson was just a clever guy who found a kind of
cultural-intellectual niche to fill, but "IRL fetishization" is a really great
thing to be aware of.

Also, this, from the original article, the Stanford professor says:

"People make dinner reservations on OpenTable; check in on Foursquare when
they arrive at the restaurant; take a picture of their food to share on
Instagram; post on Twitter a joke they hear during the meal; review the
restaurant on Yelp; then, finally, coordinate a ride home using Uber."

Ha-ha, really? Who does this? Jeez!

------
DavidWanjiru
But how bad is it really? I don't know the answer, whether empirical or
subjective, but I have a (subjective) suspicion that there's a fair bit of
confirmation bias going on. What percentage of diners share pictures of their
food on instagram? How many people take selfies? I don't suppose anyone has
actually collected that data, we can't quite say how much is too much, and
since some of these behaviors may well be annoying, people quickly enter
confirmation bias mode. Besides, the problem is not phones, it's people.
Phones just give us an avenue to run away from ourselves. I'm not on my phone
at the birthday party because I have a smartphone, I'm on the smartphone
because it helps avoid the awkward silence and contrived conversations that
would otherwise prevail. If you were sharing a bed with someone you find hot,
say some star or someone you've been crazy about but couldn't get around to
telling them how you feel, I doubt you'd be staring at your phone with that
person in bed next to you. So the problem is not the phones, it's the quality
of our relationships and interaction, and those won't change or improve just
because we've put the phone away. Were the relationships and interactions
robust enough, a smartphone wouldn't stand a chance of getting in the way.

------
scotty79
Smartphones - making even non-geeks aware of how boring people you meet really
are.

------
trustfundbaby
I think this is an fascinating phase in our adjustment to truly ubiquitous
mobile computing. A big part of the problem, in my opinion is how "social
networking" (which happens to be massive part of being "connected") is heavily
based on reputation, at least for we the users.

We want to get validation from others in form of likes, upvotes, positive
comments, and shares, specifically because Social networks encourage this.
They have designed their interaction models around this system, because its
like crack ... literally, the dopamine shots you get from these activities
keep you coming back for more. We're so focused on chasing the next social
network "high" that we forget to actually pause and just "be".

I'm not sure how it will pan out, I imagine that eventually just like with
everything else, there will be a backlash against this kind of behavior so
that social networking in the future might actually focus on fostering deeper
interactions with others instead of trying to double "page views" and
"engagement"

I for one do not do much social networking, texting or whatever when I'm
interacting with an experience or a person, thats just how I am. I do however
try to get some memories of those experiences down because human memory is so
terrible. This is why I'm not sure how I feel about recording concerts. On one
hand those are once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I've found I can't relive
without getting them down in video or photo (I rewatch my favorite concerts
all the time and am immensely thankful I took the time to record them). On the
other hand, I realize that people who want to get their social network high,
will abuse the privilege to get a few more likes on instagram or facebook.

Its a toughie, and I realize I'm an outlier because I have begun to see the
zombie-like behavior in younger people (I'm on the high end of the Millenial
generation) ... I dated a girl who was constantly on her phone, and it was
really really weird because that had never happened to me before. I also see
young kids these days standing around at a starbucks huddled around their
iphone screens, giggling over snapchat and instagram. Again, that was very
wierd to see.

So I'm not sure what the resolution is, but I do realize that it really is a
developing problem, where I might have completely dismissed it as hogwash just
a year or two ago.

Sorry for the meandering comment :\

~~~
lukifer
In essence, wearable computing (remember when that was a fantasy?) has been
displacing television as the societal drug of choice. In both cases, the
technology's effect on brain chemistry is literally overwhelming for many (or
most).

Obviously the genie's not going back in the bottle; we'll have to learn to
live with the costs of our marvellous creations, and create personal and
social habits to mititage their side effects. So it goes.

~~~
ef4
Your contrast with television is astute.

People who complain that digital technology leaves us isolated have it
completely backward. Digital technology is slowly giving us back some of the
interconnectedness that we lost to television, cars, and suburbs.

~~~
bostik
> _People who complain that digital technology leaves us isolated have it
> completely backward. Digital technology is slowly giving us back some of the
> interconnectedness that we lost_

I am not entirely certain whether the two are mutually exclusive.

Sure, we're regaining the ability to interact with other people on a nearly
universal (or maybe just "global") scale. But at the same time we're not
really giving them the attention they might deserve. Or need.

The same advances that allow us to constantly communicate with one another?
They have also made it easier to ignore people without suffering from social
discomfort. It's easier to just get distracted by yet-another-shiny-thing if
we lose our interest, even momentarily, for any reason at all.

------
Kiro
I hang out a lot more with people now when you have constant access to a
computer. If a situation is boring you can always pick up your phone until
something interesting happens.

~~~
qu4z-2
I realise this is not always an option, but remember you can also _make_
something interesting happen :)

~~~
ams6110
To quote Harvey Danger: If you're bored then you're boring.

~~~
mbrock
The agony and the irony are killing me...

------
hawkharris
To me Facebook is the biggest problem. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I
check the app on my phone many times per day - almost compulsively - to see if
I have any notifications. I get a small burst of enjoyment catching up with
friends, but, all in all, it's mostly an unpleasant distraction.

Taking breaks from that distraction - as the subject of this video did, by
leaving her phone at hone - feels very refreshing. To help myself take
structured breaks from Facebook, I actually made a simple Web app called
Facebook Detox:
[http://www.codyromano.com/fbdetox/](http://www.codyromano.com/fbdetox/)

~~~
aroman
I used to feel exactly like you about Facebook. I would check it _constantly_
, so much so that when I cmd+t'ing to open a new tab I would often
instinctively type "f+return" to have Chrome open the site.

45 days or so ago, I deactivated my Facebook account. If you're not familiar,
this allows you to "pause" your account -- nobody can access your profile or
interact with you on the site while deactivated, but once you log back in,
your account instantly resumes where you left off.

It took a week or so to overcome the Pavlovian urges I had developed from
years of habitual Facebook additction (albeit often for intellectually
stimulating and/or social causes).

The bottom line was this: I've been loving every minute of it since. I feel
more free and less tethered to my phone and computer. I have more down time
and I find myself less stressed out and, frankly, feeling better about myself.

Oh, and one more thing, lest you assume (perhaps reasonably) I didn't have
much doing on my Facebook account anyway: I'm a high school senior. Facebook
is huge at my school, and a lot of fun grade/school-wide
gossip/interaction/planning happens there. And you know what? I'm president of
the student body and if it's important, people can tell me in person.

~~~
count
Facebook is least important for people in your situation (still in school).
You can't help but physically interact with most of your social circle, as you
sit in the same building as all/most of them on a daily basis.

For those of us who are older and out of school - I don't live in a city with
any of my family, many of my best friends are (literally) all over the world.
In the past, we'd just (most likely) drift apart / lose contact. Now? We can
stay completely up to date on each other's lives, talk/communicate daily, as
if we were at the bar carousing late into the night, as we did 10-15 years
ago. These people are important to me, but there is literally no way to talk
to them in person, without spending $$$$ on plane tickets/etc.

~~~
aroman
Actually, your use case was the #1 reason for my problematic proclivity toward
Facebook. I too have friends from all around the world (people I worked with
on open source projects, people from programs and schools I used to attend,
etc). It was because of these connections that I felt attached to Facebook --
I couldn't exactly bump into someone living, as you suggested, vastly out of
my proximal social circle.

How have I delt with this? Well, I'm not completely sure. For some who I am
particularly close to, I text or IM them on occasion. To keep in contact with
a few people, I actually created a new Facebook account with only those people
as friends, and then only used the account as an IM client via Facebook
messenger.

Honestly, the latter idea makes me wonder: maybe the reason my Facebook
experience was so problematic and low S/N was because I (due to typical social
pressue) was friends with _way_ more friends than I genuinely want to stay in
active touch with?

I don't know. You make a good point, and clearly I don't have a good answer;
I've addressed those needs on a case-by-case basis.

If I can dream for a bit, I think my ideal technology solution to this would
either be teleportation or immersive 3D video conferencing. It'd be pretty
damn cool to "grab lunch" and catch up with someone on the ohter side of the
world.

------
grannyg00se
The video is a little bit over the top but really makes the point that what
those people need is unobtrusive always-on video capture.

------
madiator
I noticed a family in an airport a while ago --- the parents and the two
children were all engrossed into their own mobile phones. I felt very sad and
have since then trying to reduce my mobile phone consumption.

I do take a lot of photos with a DSLR in the name of photography, but
sometimes I wonder whether I am missing the bigger picture (though I do think
I am a better observer and appreciate nature/beauty/patterns etc. better since
starting photography).

~~~
kellishaver
_I noticed a family in an airport a while ago --- the parents and the two
children were all engrossed into their own mobile phones. I felt very sad and
have since then trying to reduce my mobile phone consumption_

You would have seen my family doing this a couple of weeks ago (well, except
we have one kid). We were stuck there for 12hrs, and we were playing a game
together, on our respective phones.

I get the sentiment, though, and I feel the same way about photography, which
is why I don't often take pictures when we're doing family activities--I don't
want to stop having fun with my family long enough to take them.

------
Sami_Lehtinen
Exactly, I've been lately trying to connect with new people. But almost
everyone everywhere seems to be really preoccupied. Usually with whatsapp,
kikchat or facebook. So even if they're there, they are not approachable or
mentally present at all.

Disclaimer. I'm just the person who's doing exactly the same (except with
different apps) when ever I have even shortest moment of waiting time. Usually
reading HN or other tech stuff or books.

------
therandomguy
I'm read this while out with wife on dinner. Rethinking my habits right now.

------
quadrant6
This is my partner in a nutshell. Some of the scenes are a little over the top
(bowling example) but it makes the point.

I had the same impression with digital cameras, seeing visitors to my local
botanic gardens wonder through and look at everything through a small lcd
screen on the back of their camera, they weren't really seeing what's there or
experiencing it, they were just trying to frame a picture so they couldn't see
the subtleness and feel the peace that's at this place.

You see it all the time at concerts too. I'm guilty of it myself.

Because it's new in the scheme of things, we will continue to fumble around,
some abstaining completely, others totally absorbed and addicted until we find
a way to balance and new social norms are set, when it's not the 'done thing'
to just stare at your phone endlessly while with friends etc

~~~
scotty79
Funny thing about memory. You walk around you look at things. You experience
them. And two or three months later it's nearly all gone. Two years later you
remember only things you took picture of plus maybe one or two things that was
strong experience (like spilling coffee over some guy).

People record to actually have any persistent memories of the event. Worn
cameras will make this easy on you. People don't hold cameras to hold cameras.
They do it just because so far it's the only way.

------
Fingel
From my experience there is a correlation between how likely you are to use
your phone during a meal with others, and how boring of a person you are. Have
dinner with intelligent people that know how to hold a conversation and you'll
forget that you even have a phone.

~~~
sp332
What if you're using your phone to carry on a conversation with someone who
isn't present?

~~~
paganel
I think that would be rude, the same way as talking on the phone while others
are present at the table is rude.

------
MasterScrat
The first episode of the 2nd season of Black Mirror explores some of these
ideas. I highly recommend it.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Black_Mirror_episodes#S...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Black_Mirror_episodes#Series_2)

~~~
EmlynC
Seconded - that series illustrates a number of dystopian fantasies based on
rapid technological change.

Forgive the tangent but I felt the "The Entire History of You" episode is
particularly poignant at illustrating one of the most damage side-effects of
always being connected and that is the losing the ability to forget. The
ability to recall (via images, videos) at a whim can lead to being obsessed
with matters that occurred in the past while living in the present. It's a
problem unique to our generation since previous generations weren't able to
capture, as ably as we can capture now, all the unnecessary specifics of daily
life.

~~~
MasterScrat
Yes that one was great!

Robert Downey Jr actually bought the rights to this episode to make a full
movie out of it, can't wait to see how it'll turn out :-)

[http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/12/robert-downey-
jr...](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/12/robert-downey-jr-black-
mirror)

------
robtoujours
I found I was really, as another poster said, "disappearing into smartphone-
land" at every available opportunity. My procrastination levels went through
the roof, as I previously had only a dumb-phone. I have an iPhone (4) now but
have found out to keep the distraction stuff to a minimum. Apple make it quite
easy, can't speak to Android.

Just go to settings->restrictions and turn off app installation, safari,
itunes, and whatever. When it asks for a passcode, ask a good friend / family
member / SO to type one in and remember it if you need it back at any point.

So now I just have "core functions" of a phone that are useful in a non-
distractful way, and a few other relevant apps.

Core functions: \- Camera \- iPod \- Camera \- Notepad \- Calendar \-
Reminders \- Clock, alarm clock \- Calculator \- Maps (well, apple maps) \-
Weather \- Email \- Phone and text

These functions are actually really good, as they bring together what were
formerly separate devices into your pocket, but they don't really change your
behavior. You're still a person, not a zombie.

Then, I have some additional functional apps:

\- Sleep cycle (upgraded alarm clock) \- Torch \- Google translate (for
travelling) \- TripAdvisor, AirBnB (ditto) \- Duolingo (for learning French)
\- Online banking app \- Facebook Messenger (I see it as an extension of SMS)
\- WhatsApp (as above) \- Soundcloud (basically an online iPod) \- Skype
(phone) \- SkyScanner and \- Couple of online shopping apps (eBay, Amazon,
RedLaser)

So all of those extra apps are things which actively improve my life and/or
are "lifehacks" bridging me to the real world - instead of going to the bank,
I go to my online app, and so on. Saves time.

That's pretty much it. The standard apps replace a whole bunch of devices and
books. The extra apps come in really handy. But with Safari disabled, and
having not installed all the trendy "social" media apps, I'm still connected
with the real world. I don't feel I'm missing much.

The only bum note is that certain useful apps - like Google Maps - have
inbuilt web browsers which are easily accessible. So I can't use them. It
would be nice if developers respected the "Restrictions->Safari" setting
instead of ignoring it.

------
sudomal
I purposely don't carry a mobile phone around with me and am noticing the
problem getting worse. We don't need all these apps that suck our time and
attention for little reward... most of us don't even need a standard phone.
It's like being surrounded by socially acceptable junkies, and it's only
socially acceptable because nearly everyone's a junkie.

------
marincounty
Sometimes, I wish the cell phone was never invented.

------
zensavona
The sooner we refine unobtrusive mobile computing (Google Glass?) to the point
of the smart phone, the sooner this can go away :)

------
taylodl
Illustrating why Google Glass is such a bad idea. In recording their lives
people are forgetting to live it. Viva life!

~~~
heurist
It's a step toward the right solution to this problem. At least people won't
be bumping into each other all the time... I'm pretty sure this phenomenon
will get worse before it gets better, but eventually our online presences will
be fully (and invisibly) woven into our real lives and we will adopt some new
form of socialization that takes constant connection into account.

~~~
ams6110
Your Google Glass will alert you when you're about to bump into someone.

------
kfcm
The past decade has witnessed the narcissism level dialed up to 11.

~~~
gametheoretic
Indeed. Some say the internet will free us; some say it will cage us with
ourselves. Mere perspectives - either way, we're turning into little blinking
light bulbs, every one of us.

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NanoWar
Interesting topic, yet a very boring article from nytimes...

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af3
good thing i dont have a phone ;)

