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by bluebarbet 80 days ago
>someone sitting by themselves reading a book on the e-reader app

I was this person. Eventually I gave it up because I didn't want to be mistaken for just another screen-addled zombie with no impulse control miserably scrolling Whatsapp and Instagram.

Perhaps I have too much self-awareness but I'd argue most people have too little.
2 comments
bawolff 80 days ago
> Eventually I gave it up because I didn't want to be mistaken for just another screen-addled zombie with no impulse control miserably scrolling Whatsapp and Instagram.

So you gave it up not because you are worried about being a "phone addicted zombie" but because you are worried about being precieved and judged as such?

Some would say changing your behaviour due to social insecurity is just another form of being a zombie.

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bluebarbet 80 days ago
Not sure it would make me a "zombie" exactly but I agree it's an oddly incoherent position to judge the behavior of others while also being concerned about their gaze. Much introspection has not yet pierced this mystery.
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fc417fc802 80 days ago
> ... I didn't want to be mistaken for ...

Who cares? They're strangers. If they want to make faulty assumptions and feel an unjustified smug sense of self superiority that's none of my business.

At this point I read ~all books on my phone as a simple matter of practicality. I'd prefer my phone had an epaper screen and grayscale page centric apps (instead of scrolling) but that's just not how things are.

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bluebarbet 80 days ago
>on my phone as a simple matter of practicality

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. IIRC I read Great Expectations on the thing!

In my case scrollability was a bonus. Horses for courses.

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