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[vicarz]

This weekend I had dinner with friends in a restaurant, and at the end was compelled to thank them for:
1) not feeling the need to fact-check or look up details we didn't remember on their phones while we tried to have a conversation
2) not posting about having dinner while we were having dinner (or taking and/or posting photos of us or the food while having dinner)

I mean the amount of discourse has increased and everyone can instantly fact check anything, yet the level of discourse seems, for all its increased speed, dumber. I'm really gravitating towards my friends that can speak outside of puns and one-liners, use abstract reasoning, and habitually use complete sentences.

I compare this to the aps that check for "friends" in the area on a moment's notice. Sure, I might be near someone I sort-of-know and by opening the app I may wind up hanging with the acquaintance - but they're still just an acquaintance with whom I put in little effort and whom reciprocated the same. Give me that friend who schedules days or weeks in advance to be with me - I'll take one for ten of happening-now kind, like I'd take one conversation in person over 10 fluffy phone calls (or 100 tweets).

Comments

[greatevil.livejournal.com]

Amen!

[panthergirl.livejournal.com]

I agree.

[wantedonvoyage.livejournal.com]

It took a week in Europe where said devices don't work to realize how insidious the former has become.

Do you know who does this? My dad! He is a journalist and big trivia buff anyway so when we are arguing about or trying to recall something, he is the first one to reach for his Blackberry (or assigns one of us to look it up).

But IDK... for me that is kind of fun that my dad who is pushing 70 has a blog and a blackberry and tags me in Facebook posts.

I was guilty of the food pic thing on our trip but that was because a friend asked for them.

Generally I do agree though and I deliberately left my iPhone in the car when we were at an all-day party yesterday. Look, no hives! No twitching!

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I find it funny that I am old fashioned for being at least once-a-day on email, old slow email, with a land line phone. I have old "letters" written with "pens" from when I was a child and rode to school on a dinosaur...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Being able to look something up online still seems like a great option but that might be because I can't do that on my old phone that doesn't even have a QWERTY keyboard.