Things Lost to Connectivity

I guess I'm the wrong person for this thread because I've been social distancing for most of my life.
Also, I hate phones ever so slightly more than I do people.

 

When pedestrians are facetiming and are crossing the street is the worst. Going through a checkout line at the grocery store, in a doctors office, I mean shoot, seriously?

 

I live in a historic neighborhood. Our backyards are small, which forces families with kids into the front yards and/or driveways and streets. We know all everybody on our street and - thanks to the nature of our overall neighborhood - know a lot of people within walking distance. It takes effort - especially since we all retreat indoors this time of year - but we make it.

 

Twenty years ago, a “neighbor” let her kid drive a riding lawnmower around the yard at 10 p.m. It was a nice Salmon Creek neighborhood, but they were pure white trash.

 

I remember when phones were first a "thing" and people started using them while other people were around and I thought "what the person on the phone is more important than those of us right in front of you??" Yep, that's when I started to think we were doomed.

 

Well, there was a period where everything I tried to buy at the Publix across the street from my work with my debit card was initally declined, and I got a text asking if it was me who shelled out the $5.79 for a package of Laffy Taffy. So I had to click that yes, it was me, before trying again.

So anyone looking at me going through that ritual probably thought I was one of those people who couldn't tear himself away from his screen.

 

We went to a Broadway show tonight. A woman sitting next to us was CONSTANTLY checking her Apple Watch and texting.

She wasn’t a teen or in her 20s. Mid-to-late 30s at least. And a fucking asshole.

JFC. You’re at the theater, with other people, and right in front of you is incredible music, entertainment, talented actors and something unique that not many are fortunate enough to experience.

And you can’t put your phone down for five goddamn minutes. You’re not that fucking important or special.

This shit is way more addictive than drugs and booze for some people.

 

Screen-shot your boarding passes (and other vital docs/receipts/etc.), then save them to your photo files.

You'll then always have backup copies that don't need live WiFi. I stash all mine in a file called DOCS for quick access.