Keep Your Thumbs Still When I'm Talking to You [telecom]

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Keep Your Thumbs Still When I'm Talking to You

By DAVID CARR April 15, 2011

YOU are at a party and the person in front of you is not really listening to you. Yes, she is murmuring occasional assent to your remarks, or nodding at appropriate junctures, but for the most part she is looking beyond you, scanning in search of something or someone more compelling.

Here's the funny part: If she is looking over your shoulder at a room full of potentially more interesting people, she is ill-mannered. If, however, she is not looking over your shoulder, but into a smartphone in her hand, she is not only well within modern social norms, but is also a wired, well-put-together person.

Add one more achievement to the digital revolution: It has made it fashionable to be rude.

By DAVID CARR April 15, 2011

A Modest Proposal for a Digital Détente: 10 Rules to Make Sure Smartphones Don't Make Us Stupid