The little glowing screen

When I look around the bus, about half the people are deeply involved with their cell phones. I'd think this was a new distraction, but I'm old enough to remember people deeply involved with their newspapers. And doing crosswords when not reading the stories.

When I rode the Chicago L some people still read newspapers, but if I recall correctly a goodly fraction kept their eyes peeled for tottering strap-hangers. Some of the turns rattled us around a bit. I don't remember having to keep an eye on dicey passengers--not much at rush hour, anyway. At 10pm, somewhat, but the platform seemed riskier, and the entrance still more. The cars themselves were well lit and you could easily see through one to the next.

After running a few numbers, I conclude that the monthly price for a smartphone (over and above the dumb-phone price) is probably comparable to the price of the newspaper--which has been going up lately. Hmm. Have to cough up something for the online access too, so it doesn't quite balance. I don't play candy crunch or whatever it is, I read Facebook maybe twice a month and am not going to display personal stuff to seatmates on the bus, a little bitty screen is hard to read books on, and I don't want to be accessible by email wherever I go. (Contrariwise, I sometimes do want to be able to email somebody else.)

Frequently I solve a thorny problem when I get on the bus and am far away from anything but pen and paper. Maybe that has to do with changing the scene or changing the mode I'm thinking in--and I might prevent that if I brought along a little computer to look at.