It’s interesting to hear David Foster Wallace’s take from 2003, years before smartphones and social media. It’s the same message!
He talks about how public spaces in the US are never quiet anymore, and how many of his friends resist sitting with difficult material for any longer than short moments.
… thinking really hard about the same thing for maybe half an hour instead of 30 seconds Reading requires sitting alone in a quiet room
It’s not just bored, there’s an almost dread that comes up, I think, here, about having to be alone, and having to be quiet…