I have to admit, I’m pretty tired of the endless articles and internet memes that strive to convince us that we’re ruining our relationships with smartphones. Yes, it can sometimes be rude to spend your time glued to your phone while surrounded by meatspace folks actively trying to engage you, but to characterize this as a universal crime assumes that our relationships with the people in our immediate vicinity are inherently more important than our relationships with those who are not. This is simply not true.

Here are a few (but not all) of the reasons why you might find me (or anyone) engaging with my smartphone rather than my immediate surroundings:
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