[servowire]

Ever since the first iPaqs came out I was hooked to mobile computing. First (2001) an iPaq HX series, some Windows mobile phones, and in 2005 the HTC phones came etc. Traveled by train a lot and remember being the smug hipster MSN/IRC chatting away in the train while everybody was still reading newspapers and using T9 SMS etc.

Then in 2007 the iPhone came out, and more, and more. By 2013 I started to get tired of it. It started feeling like an addiction, never enjoying the countryside when traveling always glued to the screen that got bigger and bigger and brighter. After the 8th iPhone (5) I stopped. Got a "dumb" phone with HSDPA tether option only so I can pair to my Macbook when I need to get some work done on a proper platform.

Now I really notice late-adopters like my grandmother grabbing their smartphones the whole time. It's a rude practice, it's actually pretty anti-social.

I feel saturated by smartphones.

[tekalon]

I can guess that your grandmother is grabbing her phone since it is the best way she can communicate with her older friends (which may or may not be home bound or far away).

I don't think it so much as being anti-social, but a more visual way of people showing that they have higher social priorities than the current situation. If they really enjoyed the conversation/activity/ or even the people they are with, they would ignore the phone.

While I'm not addicted to my phone (I often leave it at home ) I do use it on occasion as a way to 'escape' social situations that are not interesting. Dull conversation, lack of activity, or a situation where I've been dragged into some social obligation. Would do the same thing with books before cell phones.