Like, you just look weird if you sitting by yourself (example: waiting at a bus stop) and just stairing into space, so like its basically social expectation to be on your phone when you are by yourself.
Plus, just feels like if you don’t have a phone on you, you are missing a lot of information (access to the internet, maps, etc.) that you might need in case you get lost or something.
I don’t even know how I survived the 90s. When you were waiting for the bus the most entertaining thing you could do was stare at your shoes or throw a rock at the stop sign
The boredom was real, but also like…thoughts would turn over in undirected and sometimes fruitful ways, too. At least for me. My mind does far less just “idling” these days, and while too much of that is a real kind of misery, I think some is probably useful.
When I have idle time for thoughts to enter my brain is when bad things happen.
Heard lol, it’s not a universal good
A Walkman or book
Or a handheld… Those ones still exist… Thankfully.
Even nowadays I don’t feel “entertained” when forcing myself to use the smartphone when I am in waiting situation outside…
How could I have forgotten gameboy
I pretty much always have a handheld with me. I have this fear that I’ll randomly get forcibly stuck somewhere for half an hour and will need to bust it out. Usually it’s my R36S, but sometimes it’s a Vita, or a PSP 1000. If I’m feeling especially nostalgic, a modded Gameboy Color.
They come in super handy at lunch, grocery store lines, and when my kid falls asleep on me.
You had to pick up rocks on the way in case there weren’t any good ones at the bus stop. Or you’d have to ask people there if they had any spare rocks. So embarrassing.
I would run out of ads to stare at and then just space out.