[Robert Urbanek]

I remember, decades ago as a child, if I were in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, auto service department, or a government office, my mother would start up a conversation with a stranger. I would read an old magazine offered on a table or shelf. Even a few years ago, while in an ER, I started up a conversation with another patient who mentioned that, on another ER visit, she and her husband had to wait an extra-long time because two gunshot victims were admitted ahead of them.

Now, the magazines have disappeared, and people focus on their smart phones instead of talking with other people in the room. Sometimes. there will be a TV in the waiting room. Both smart phones and COVID (who starts up a conversation with someone wearing a mask?) seem to have killed the art of conversation that once made waiting less of an ordeal.

Has this been the experience with other people here?