The Simple Joy of “No Phones Allowed”

“Every time someone in a group of people deploys a screen, the whole group is affected. Each disengaged person in a crowd is like a little black hole, a dead zone for social energy, radiating a noticeable field of apathy towards the rest of the room and what’s happening there.”

Read the full post: The Simple Joy of “No Phones Allowed”

(via Hurry Slowly)

4 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Wir machen immer den „Handy Tower“ wenn wir in einer Gruppe zusammensitzen… Alles Handys kommen face-down auf einander gestapelt. Gibt eine ganz andere Gesprächs-dynamik in der Gruppe. Sehr. Zu. Empfehlen!

  2. I have a dumb phone – and even with that there are a lot of times I forget to bring it with me – in part this is deliberate as I have found that ‘having to have’ your phone with you at all times was something that did not appeal to me.
    When friends come around – and conversation has even come to ‘whats the name of…..’ I no longer reach for the tablet to ‘look it up’ as the chatter seems to lose its flow…. and benefits more by not doing so

  3. Oh good, so true.

  4. I don’t know…I agree it can be intrusive. More than leaf blower, loud cars, screaming children or … make a list. Several times in my life the phone in my pocket allowed me to deal with an emergency at home with my kids while I was ‘working’ or made me aware of a situation that did need my attention. So yeah, it’s annoying. But I’m not sure more so than a long, long, long list of other things electronic and not. The future doesn’t ask permission.