Abstract :
In late 2010, New York Times technology columnist Nick Bilton had an epiphany of sorts: "I\´ve started to notice that while technology allows us to connect to people far away, it can simultaneously disconnect us from people who may be directly in front of us." Okay, perhaps epiphany is too strong a word for what might strike many of us as self-evident. So what did he do about it? "My wife and I have started to make a conscious effort to limit the use of our mobile phones during dinner or while spending time with family." Note the use of the word limit here in place of, say, stop or ban.