SUDBURY – If you grew up in the era before smartphones, it’s hard to understand how those ever-present phones have disrupted socializing for students and young adults.
“If we put our phones down, there’s no one to talk to because everyone else is on their phones,” says Seán Killingsworth, founder of the national Reconnect Movement. “We are seen as suspicious when we’re not on our phones. If I want to go up and talk to somebody, I have to get past the barriers of their Air pods and their phone. On top of that, my entire attempt at connecting with them is received as an intrusion.
“This is what makes it tough to do those seemingly simple suggestions we are given: Start a conversation, etc.,” he said during an address at James Madison University in 2024.
The answer isn’t expecting individuals to cut down phone use or get rid of their smart phones altogether, he argues. He tried that as a teenager, opting for a flip phone, but just ended up feeling more isolated. The problem is systemic. Instead, we need to give young people – and everyone, really – opportunities to enjoy each others’ company in phone-free spaces and events.
“When you bring this into a social setting,” Killingsworth said, holding up his phone, “everything changes. This device is radioactive in a social environment. It weakens and destroys a social ecosystem.”
Killingsworth also spoke at the Goodnow Library in June for the launch of Reconnect Massachusetts in Sudbury, at an event where attendees were required to “check” their phones at a phone valet so no one in the audience had a cell phone.
Coming this fall:
A screening of Join or Die, a film about the importance of in-person social connections featuring “Bowling Alone” author Robert Putnam (and others), on Sept. 30 at Goodnow Library from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. “It will be an official Reconnect Massachusetts event, meaning we will ask every attendee to ‘valet’ his/her/their phone at the door,” according to the event announcement.
The group is also planning “screen-free coffees” at the Goodnow Library on Oct. 7 and Oct. 21 from 10 to 11:30 a.m., where phones will also be checked.
Additional events are in the works.
Killingsworth is not against having a cell phone altogether; in fact the Reconnect Movement website features the quote: Phones aren’t bad. They just don’t belong in all social settings.
“It’s great for banking,” he said in his James Madison speech, holding up his phone. “It’s great for getting to point A to point B. it’s great for listening to audio books. It’s great for all those things. . . . However, this same thing is capable of axing an entire forest of natural in-person social connection.”
If you want more info, you can email ReconnectMassachusetts@gmail.com.
Goodnow Library is at 21 Concord Road in Sudbury, just off Route 20.
Interview about Reconnect Massachusetts in Sudbury on WBZ:
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