2024-09-23
53 分钟You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I'm Grant Barrett.
And I'm Martha Barnett.
I want to share a passage from a new book that I really love.
It's by a college professor who's describing bringing his children for a visit to campus.
He writes, Watch this.
Everyone will stare at their phones.
Students amble into the hallway.
One meanders towards us, bumps into me,
recalibrates her trajectory without looking up, and continues her Roomba-like text walking.
I love that Roomba-like text walking.
I've seen that.
I've been there.
Both the little robot vacuum and the people walking around looking at their phones and just kind of like gently bumping into walls and people and furniture.
You know, it's all very careful, but still divided attention.
Right, right.
I was going to say, sort of oblivious yet aware at the same time.
But before the phones, you know, it was not uncommon to see people doing this.
I mean, I remember living in New York before cell phones,
newspapers, and books, people would walk down the street reading.