We grow emotionally distant with our expressions. We become content to “LOL” with our thumbs or to cry emoticon tears to express our sorrow because we cannot (and will not) take the time to genuinely invest ourselves in real tears of sorrow. We use our phones to multitask our emotions. In the age of the smartphone, we are both trying to escape emotion and trying to “plug the need for contact with the drug of perpetual attention.”3 This juxtaposition, by necessity, makes us broadly connected but emotionally shallow.
