Wish there was more rigorous studies on this. Yesterday I got stuck waiting for a train for 3 hours with a dead phone, so I walked around Boston and an old lady sat down at the park to talk to me about her dogs. I got back to the station an hour too early and read the beginning of a book someone left behind.
When waiting for lifts, instead of focusing on my phone in the vain hope of finding something useful and enlightening, I have a quick chat with those around me.
Unsurprisingly, the security guards and other neighbours now say hi to me regularly.
Can we get a (2024) study on this?