The worst part about this is that I immediately thought that it would be useful in awkward transitory moments. Everybody pulls out their phone on the bus, so you could fit in pretty well with this instead of staring outside.
What’s wrong with looking outside? I’m at the point where I treat my phone like it’s radioactive, actively trying to limit each encounter with it. I think we should all be staring out the window more often.
The way the buses are laid out in my city is that the seats are directly facing each other. So staring outside could make it seem like your staring at people if it’s too crowded. So it’s more comfortable to pretend to use your phone.
People have a pretty good sense of whether you're staring at them or something just beside or behind them. Not really from the angle of your eyes but the way you react (or not) when the other person looks back.
I wouldn't worry about that so much. And I worry about a lot of social things :)
That’s kind of the weird trap, isn’t it? That it feels like there’s normative social pressure to do your phone too, right at the moment that everyone who would notice you doing or not doing so has turned their attention elsewhere?
I feel like I should program an easter egg into one of those that occasionally asks people the question "do you like me?" and then has two boxes to tick that say Yes or No.
One of my hobbies when visiting London is smiling whilst taking the Tube somewhere. Oftentimes I am the only person in the carriage not wearing a glum or flat expression.
Ha ha,
I remember I was beaten in USSR when I was a teenager and smiled on a bus without a reason for some time (was daydreaming about some random things).
Was approched with “why are you fucking laughing?”
Actually, having a simple and straightforward instruction that you need to ignore and do something totally different instead... kind of sums up the modern computer UI.
Being non-present on a screen reminds of meditation but is more akin to dissociation and is really dreaming awake. It takes you away but you dream a weird dream which is not yours .
Well, I used the opportunity to be present. I was being a bit facetious about being tricked into it; it's a state I like to enter instead of being on a screen to begin with.
This is perfect. Especially the fact that 1) it never ends, and 2) you eventually figure out that the best way to get a promotion is not to be faster of more efficient but the exact opposite - delay ending the current task, and keep making it larger, until the next one comes along. Beautiful.
haha hilarious, it does end though when you become "CTO". You can read the code and it takes a LONG time to get there by "typing emails" or you can run `givePromotion()` or update the variables holding that.
We need this on a device which is not a phone. It could be a simple mechanical device which presents the instructions on a slowly scrolling paper tape.
This is actually perfect for AI robots to blend in waiting in public. Just like bartenders polishing glasses, you can't have them just staring making people uncomfortable.
You can bet that it won't matter if the robot is looking at you, it'll be capturing audio/video and collecting huge amounts of sensor data about its surroundings at all times. A robot looking at a phone would be redundant. Maybe the publishing lobby could push to get them to read physical books instead.
Love this. Thank you. I'm eating lunch at the moment, by myself, in a local casual establishment, so of course I pulled out my phone and the first thing I looked at was HN and this was the top post. I started playing and couldn't help smiling. Felt like I was watching a robot mimicking me as it was studying human behavior.
It also got me thinking about what I would do before smart phones. During the dumb phone era I was still pulling out my phone to text a lot so wasn't too different, but I also read books a lot more back then
Knowing I would be out alone for a meal, I would have carried reading material- book, magazine, paper articles. Maybe a notebook to scribble notes.
Now, I have an internet of reading material via my phone. Or my tablet.
My family and I are close. We talk lots and often and tend to have enough context when a sentence or two needs speaking. We go out together, we chat a bit at the start of a meal, and we don’t need to speak much afterwards. We don’t get awkward, we can be quiet. But my brain continues - write a note, surface-level research on an idea … so we each look at a device for a few minutes. My daughter is keeping in touch with her significant other, my wife is likely gaming or maybe window shopping. If anyone speaks up, we pull away from the devices to talk.
I’m personally not addicted to the device itself. But I’m like Johnny 5 - my intellectual curiosity is difficult to satiate. The readily available access to “input” is what keeps me plugged in.
Back on topic: these art projects, or statements, or whatever that are designed to bring attention to our attention to our phones … interesting, fun, perhaps important. But I’m not a fan of the social nostalgia that sometimes appears in the comments. I never did just interact with strangers. Never had a meaningful conversation with a random person. I would have had my face in a book.
I went on a trip without a smartphone, as an experiment. You get used to the lack of entertainment. On the second day I got a book and a notebook. I talked to people more, paid more attention to my surroundings. It was a fun time.
There was even an era before dumb phones :) Some people burried their heads in newspaper or books, some looked and watched the world go by. I still do it, phone is really last resort since I strongly believe its slowly making me more addicted to it (more like my brain is doing it on its own).
Which is pathetic IMHO, I don't want to be tied to gizmo who is spying on me to sell me more tailored adverts, I want to have it as a servant and nothing more and certainly not reverse.
There is an art in enjoying a situation while doing absolutely nothing, just looking around at the world and people. One shouldn't be uncomfortable when left with oneself alone for a while. This does a lot with stress management and cleaning up cluttered mind.
Most of culture is (hopefully) new takes on topics which are much older than smartphones. "The topic is old" is not a sufficient condition to consider something tired/cliche/old.
I'd say this one is different enough to be considered at least mildly interesting, even if you take into account that the genre "purposefully absurd pastiche of attention-stealing tech" is not new.
I'm getting a novel optical illusion with the spinning line in the box that shows up near the beginning: Whichever end I'm looking at looks normal, but the other end looks like a split hair, or an open pair of chopsticks. Like what's spinning isn't actually a "/" but actually a very narrow "V" .. only, if I try to look at the split part of the V, that part closes up and the opposite end splits.
Love it, very creative counterattack on the attention wars.
I remember decades ago, first phones came out, and I was at a party and I had not much to do, so I took out my phone and pretended to send messages with someone. It felt weird, but now it would be such a "natural" thing to do when bored.
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[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 221 ms ] threadit has that early internet screamer vibes, I was a bundle of nerves all the time.
I wouldn't worry about that so much. And I worry about a lot of social things :)
Do you also tip just because there's a line behind you and the self-service cashier tells you the machine "is going to ask you a question"?
Was approched with “why are you fucking laughing?”
I wonder about the dopamine effect, could it be made even more boring?
Almost made me worry: how much of a phone addict am I when I find this meditative?
More accessible on desktop.
https://pippinbarr.com/itisasifyouweremakinglove/
Interesting
Maybe monitoring someone using e.g. some social media app and recording all taps and swipes might make it more realistic :)
Maybe also some directions like “now smile” or “now look awkwardly at someone in your environment like you’re hiding something”.
It does appear the instructions are randomized, so I might have been unlucky.
It also got me thinking about what I would do before smart phones. During the dumb phone era I was still pulling out my phone to text a lot so wasn't too different, but I also read books a lot more back then
I’m going to start reading physical books again.
Thank you.
Now, I have an internet of reading material via my phone. Or my tablet.
My family and I are close. We talk lots and often and tend to have enough context when a sentence or two needs speaking. We go out together, we chat a bit at the start of a meal, and we don’t need to speak much afterwards. We don’t get awkward, we can be quiet. But my brain continues - write a note, surface-level research on an idea … so we each look at a device for a few minutes. My daughter is keeping in touch with her significant other, my wife is likely gaming or maybe window shopping. If anyone speaks up, we pull away from the devices to talk.
I’m personally not addicted to the device itself. But I’m like Johnny 5 - my intellectual curiosity is difficult to satiate. The readily available access to “input” is what keeps me plugged in.
Back on topic: these art projects, or statements, or whatever that are designed to bring attention to our attention to our phones … interesting, fun, perhaps important. But I’m not a fan of the social nostalgia that sometimes appears in the comments. I never did just interact with strangers. Never had a meaningful conversation with a random person. I would have had my face in a book.
In 2025, my phone is my book.
Which is pathetic IMHO, I don't want to be tied to gizmo who is spying on me to sell me more tailored adverts, I want to have it as a servant and nothing more and certainly not reverse.
There is an art in enjoying a situation while doing absolutely nothing, just looking around at the world and people. One shouldn't be uncomfortable when left with oneself alone for a while. This does a lot with stress management and cleaning up cluttered mind.
I'd say this one is different enough to be considered at least mildly interesting, even if you take into account that the genre "purposefully absurd pastiche of attention-stealing tech" is not new.
Is anyone else getting that?
I remember decades ago, first phones came out, and I was at a party and I had not much to do, so I took out my phone and pretended to send messages with someone. It felt weird, but now it would be such a "natural" thing to do when bored.
It's not funny, it's stupid, and sad.
If you find that "you're feeling intense pressure to be on your phone", throw it in the ocean!
Otherwise? They’ll just open their phone again and scroll Reddit or Hackernews.