Disrupting Anomie: Toward a cell phone etiquette for public space


Disrupting Anomie: Toward a cell phone etiquette for public space: The development of commonly accepted, socially sanctioned mores for use of smartphones in public is needed to liberate public space from the attention merchants, Roca Gallery, June 4, 2019.


...for the purposes of recovering the social, interactive nature of public space, the most disruptive tool—small, yet powerful—would be a commonly accepted social sanction against walking past another person while staring at a smartphone. Doing so needs to be regarded as the height of rudeness, worthy of a physical nudge, a whistle, a side comment. Distracted walking should be treated as a shocking violation of each other’s personal space, treating public space as if it were one’s private realm, as if there were no need to acknowledge the presence of others or blocking each other’s path while delving into one’s personal data. We can reinforce social rules that call out these incidences in order to heighten our self-awareness.