[alienasa]

You don't know whether or not I have something more interesting to say if you're dividing your attention between me and your phone.

As the article says, it takes more than 30 second to divine whether or not a conversation is going to go somewhere interesting, and if you stop paying attention at the drop of a hat, it never has a chance.

[lmm]

> it takes more than 30 second to divine whether or not a conversation is going to go somewhere interesting

I think that's an older-generation thing. If you go 30 seconds without getting to the point, of course people will think that you don't have one.

[abalashov]

And must all conversation have a point that is deliberated at the origin? A lot of the most useful and salient conversations I've had with friends, colleagues, and mentors in my life have been ideation, thinking out loud, stepping through an experience or an impression... there wasn't a clear point, until two hours later, when there suddenly was. Or, there was a point, one thought, and it changed course during the conversation.

I don't know where I'd be without those conversations.