Phones disrupt our interactions

Eating dinner at home with my old parents

My father was trying to remember a restaurant's name

He asked my mother "What was it called......?"

They both tried to remember it

It was something they could easily looked up on their phones & know immediately

But the idea of using a phone never seemed to occur to them

They kept trying to remember it by themselves

And I thought this was strangely unusual nowadays

I felt quietly pleased watching them

A few month ago

I went out with a woman a couple of times

She was a very nice person

But one very "tiny" thing that often bothered me;

She frequently used her phone to look things up, or
to show me photos

Certainly, a phone gives us accurate, clear information & images

It was probably part of her niceness

But it wasn’t always what I wanted from an interaction

I want others to try to describe things, instead of immediately showing photos

I want to struggle a little to understand what they are trying to describe

If we can’t remember something,
then let it go
and continue the talk without it

Ambiguity, unclearness, inaccuracy are fine
probably even better for face-to-face interaction