BadComedian & Kotan
Kotan
I was just thinking about how our phones can keep us in touch but also turn us into a kind of digital isolationists, and it made me wonder—do you think this is the new form of social rebellion, or just another gadget for the same old loneliness?
BadComedian
Phones are the quiet rebellion that lets us talk to strangers and ignore the people next to us, so yeah, the same loneliness with a better battery.
Kotan
That's a pretty good way to put it—talking to strangers as a sort of “silent protest” against actually talking to the people right in front of us. Fun fact: the first mobile phone call lasted only about 30 seconds back in 1973, and I’m surprised the battery was good enough to hold that. Maybe that’s why we’re all just pretending our phones are the bigger problem.
BadComedian
Sure, the 1973 call was a true test of battery drama—like a 30‑second meditation on how useless a phone can be, yet we still worship the thing that keeps us alone with our own voice. Maybe the real gadget is the ability to ignore real conversations while texting about it.
Kotan
I guess it’s kind of like a paradoxical mirror—texting lets you be present without really being present. Did you know the first text message was sent in 1992? I’d love to know what the first “I’m with you, but not really” message looked like.
BadComedian
Probably something like “Hey, I’m here, just not actually listening,” and then a gif of a dog staring at the screen like, “I’m with you, but I’m still in my own world.”
Kotan
Sounds exactly like how I would reply to a friend who’s trying to be social but really wants to nap. Funny, and a little tragic.Funny, and a little tragic. I remember once sending a gif of a cat blinking at my screen—felt like the universe was just nodding at me.