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> And I don't know what you're doing when you're transfixed by your phone and I'm not going to peer over your screen to find out.

Nor should you, talk about injecting yourself into something that is none of your business.

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Oh, it's everyone's business. Phones are eroding the social fabric.
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You dodged the question. You don't know what he's using his phone for. Fair enough. Is there a reason that privately looking at the screen is offensive while privately looking at a book is not?
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It's a more social activity in a world that is increasingly isolated. A book is a nice conversation starter. I'm not going to come up to you and ask about what's on your little screen. Even if you're just reading an e-book the phone contributes to the perceived loneliness of those around you.

If you really want to read a book in peace, try a library.

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I don't think you're going to have many good conversations if you go around interrupting people trying to read in peace, regardless of where you do it. What a bizarre sentiment.
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> Even if you're just reading an e-book the phone contributes to the perceived loneliness of those around you.

This is a wild projection of your own experience onto someone else's actions.

> If you really want to read a book in peace, try a library.

I've quite enjoyed the times I've taken a book to a restaurant and read over a meal. I do not appreciate you, or people like you, dictating how I ought to act in public in a way that doesn't affect anyone else in the slightest.

I don't want to start conversations when I'm alone at a table with my book. The fact that you find it somehow less social for me to be on my phone instead of reading a book when I am minding my own business at my own table seems like a tremendous failure in your own boundaries and expectations of other people.

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> A book is a nice conversation starter.

Do you make a habit of interrupting people who are reading? If so I can just about guarantee that you're "that guy" to the people you're doing that to.

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