The width of now

“Human character changed on or about December 2010,”writesEdward Mendelsonin“In the Depths of the Digital Age,“when everyone, it seemed, started carrying a smartphone.”

For the first time, practically anyone could be found and intruded upon, not only at some fixed address at home or at work, but everywhere and at all times. Before this, everyone could expect, in the ordinary course of the day, some time at least in which to be left alone, unobserved, unsustained and unburdened by public or fa...