The English Boy

Last week I met a guy named Austin who just moved from Liverpool. He was walking around in the library trying to find a free phone. As he walked past me I offered him my phone so long as it wasn't a long distance call. After talking for a few minutes he returned and sat down to read next to me. A smile, and a simple question transformed into an hour long in-depth conversation about life in the United States. We talked about his home and why he moved here to be with his friends Eli and Erica. When I asked about some of the biggest differences between England and the US he immediately said, "the world is smaller here." He spoke about how he felt that Americans were entrenched in their smart phones, always talking to someone else even when they are surrounded by people. He felt that people in the US didn't intimately talk with one another. He said in England people have smart phones but aren't always on them. He wishes that when he was on the bus people would chat with one another.
He also told me that he feels like he's missing out on something with everyone always streaming information. With no smart phone here he feels pretty left out of our culture.