26. How to be a Person -- "Laugh only when something is Funny"

Sunday June 30th, 2024

Two-screen is a new term to me: entertainment that is not so engaging you can’t still look at your phone.

The phone will not be denied. I even see people taking their phones for walks. Like they need some fresh air. Like Joaquin in Her. A movie from 2013 that I am watching as I write this newsletter.

They press the walk button and then they go back to their phone. They start crossing the street and then they go back to their phone. They manage not to trip on the curb and they go back to their phone.

My phone needed some fresh air so I took it to the mountains.

They look like they are Gen Z. Clothes, backpack, haircut, said phone all paid for by their parents most likely. But their deliberate, intentional behaviour in conjunction with the phone is as though they were captains of industry hurrying to an important board meeting or a surgeon boning up on a patient’s history on their way to the hospital.