Earlier quoted context omitted.
People complain all the time about "being addicted to our phones" but my memory of the world pre-smartphone was that newspapers and magazines were everywhere and frankly...I'm not really seeing the difference - in quality or content. Because while "the newspaper" was always considered respectable...that's ignoring the endless mounds of gossip magazines, fashion magazines, lifestyle...basically every category which ha…
People didn't pull out a magazine while in a group and read an article for 5 minutes. a bus wouldn't be literally filled with nothing but people reading magazines and books, nobody punished their children by taking their magazines away. We did have, say, "portable entertainment". music players were kinda similar to this too, but yeah there is a massive difference.
Kids would have coloring books or comics. Disinterested teens would have a book. I remember my grandmother carrying a crosswords puzzle, Stanley-style.
Sure it's not something you would do in an occasion where you're expected to keep conversation, like a social living room visit, a fancier diner, a sales call, a date or a birthday party. But even in special occasions with the extended family would be totally normal to excuse yourself to go read a newspaper or something if the rest of the people were engaged in conversation you're not interested in.