Now everyone is connected, is this the death of conversation? | Simon Jenkins

As our meeting places fall silent, save for tapping on screens, it seems we have mistaken ubiquitous connection for the real thing

I first noticed it in a restaurant. The place was strangely quiet, and at one table a group seemed deep in prayer. Their heads were bowed, their eyes hooded and their hands in their laps. I then realised that every one, young and old, was gazing at a handheld phone. People strolled the street outside likewise, with arms crooked at right angles, necks bent and heads...