# When EXACTLY did everyone start staring at their cell phones?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-exactly-did-everyone-start-staring-at-their-cell-phones/799867>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 26, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-exactly-did-everyone-start-staring-at-their-cell-phones/799867 "2017-10-26T04:53:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-exactly-did-everyone-start-staring-at-their-cell-phones/799867/41 "2017-10-31T04:17:26Z")

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It started when cell phones with texting became inexpensive enough for parents to buy them for their high schoolers.

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**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-exactly-did-everyone-start-staring-at-their-cell-phones/799867/42 "2017-10-31T08:14:01Z")

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Many started staring when they realized they could stop wasting time by thinking. Why think when I have a device that will do it for me, they might ask.

The culling phase will eliminate many of these folks as they cross the street or drive while not thinking about whay they’re doing.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-exactly-did-everyone-start-staring-at-their-cell-phones/799867/43 "2017-11-03T14:20:53Z")

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Another datapoint (in a rather depressing article) [Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/)

> [@](#):
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> What happened in 2012 to cause such dramatic shifts in behavior? It was after the Great Recession, which officially lasted from 2007 to 2009 and had a starker effect on Millennials trying to find a place in a sputtering economy. But it was exactly the moment when the proportion of Americans who owned a smartphone surpassed 50 percent.

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