Quick chat with a bus driver changed how I see my commute

I was standing at the stop last Tuesday and an old bus driver for route 22 pulled up early. He leaned out the window and said I always look stressed glancing at my phone. He told me he sees people miss their actual lives staring at screens for 40 minutes each way. That got me thinking about the 200 hours a year I spend just scrolling and not looking out the window. I tried putting my phone away yesterday and noticed three new coffee shops and a mural I never saw before. Has anyone else had a random stranger say something that stuck with you like that?

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elliot_king4mo ago

The bus driver was onto something real. I started taking my earbuds out during my walk to the night shift just to hear the city sounds again. Found out my neighbor has this crazy good jazz trio practicing in his garage on Tuesday evenings. Never would have caught that with my head buried in a podcast about true crime that I barely even remember. Makes you wonder what else we're filtering out without realizing it.

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michaelw264mo ago

Dude, wait - Tuesday evenings? That's wild because my neighbor across the street has this insane blues guitarist who jams out every Thursday night around 11 PM. I never knew because I always had my AirPods in listening to some boring history podcast. Now I sit on my porch with a beer and just listen. You're right, it makes you think about all the random cool stuff we're missing.

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