Even the topics you talk about during a smartphone-augmented conversation are of lower quality, because you tend to discuss shallower topics (where it won’t matter if you’re interrupted).
But it’s not all bad news. I mean, while smartphones may not foster high-quality conversational topics, empathy, or general human connection…there are some ways in which a smartphone-augmented conversation is better than a regular conversation.
One could argue that taking a selfie with your best friend is a form of bonding that transcends conversation.
You want to have a deep, meaningful conversation but it’s just not the right time. Luckily, you can reliably exchange contact info via your smartphones and have that conversation sometime in the future!
What do you do when you run out of things to talk about but you’re still stuck with this person for the next five hours Hello, front page of reddit!
Face it: Some people sucked at conversation long before smartphones entered the picture. Now those people are just as good at conversation as everyone else, thanks to the awkward-silence-smartphone-stare!
Instead of arguing about a random fact for six hours, and possibly destroying your relationship with another human being...just check Google.
Most conversations benefit from an alternate point of view. And your smartphone gives you access to all of those views, from totally insane to pretty reasonable.
Some relationships are more about doing things together than talking to each other. Thanks to your smartphone, you always have something to do with one another!
That girl across the room…you definitely know her! But what’s her name Check Facebook for your friend’s friends and bam: you can have a perfectly normal, non-awkward conversation with her without having to introduce yourself again.
Okay, so this one probably goes both ways. But it is convenient, if you’re a journalist or a student and you’re trying to memorize what someone’s saying, to be able to easily record what another person is saying.
Phone and video calls count as conversations, right Well, without them you’d probably only talk to your parents twice a year.
Plus, you can talk to people while you’re talking to people. Quantity counts, too, right