Giving It Our Full Attention

Summary

Several years ago an American newspaper reporter flew to Paris. After arriving at the airport and collecting his luggage, he found a cab to take him to his hotel. During the ride in the cab, he and the cabbie collectively did six things. The cabbie was driving the cab, of course. But he also had a Bluetooth wireless phone clipped to his ear and was talking animatedly to someone on the other end. Furthermore, he was watching a movie on the car’s dashboard’s screen—on the flat panel that usually displays the GPS road map. Driving, phoning, and watching a movie.

Meanwhile in the back seat, the newspaper reporter was also doing three things. Riding, of course; but writing a newspaper column on his laptop. When that was done, he pulled out his iPod and listened to a Stevie Nicks album. When the reporter arrived at his hotel, he reflected on his cab ride: he and the driver had been together for an hour, and between the two of us they had done six different things. But there was one thing they never did in that hour: they never talked to each other.