The smartphone created a new social norm of perpetual device attention.

Evidence

There would soon follow not just an attentional habit but a new social norm, that of never parting from one’s device; of standing and staring at it, as if paralyzed, as the world goes by; of not looking up in the presence of others, except when the urge to take a picture erupts at the strangest moment—autre tech, autre moeurs: it is probably the thing a visitor from a previous century would find the weirdest. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1039

Categorization

• APHORISMS: The twist on ‘autre temps, autre moeurs’ — autre tech, autre moeurs — is memorable, but the real content is the norm-formation it describes.
• XREF: connects to: Being perpetually current on Twitter marks insider status in hyper-tech culture. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 599; Mobile connectivity transformed the internet into a continuous overlay of everyday life. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 113; A phone is a mere inert object apart from the attention directed into it. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 131 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• A phone is a mere inert object apart from the attention directed into it. #complicates (0.75) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 131