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I think there's a fear of disconnect sometimes; communication is a huge issue for all of us, from adults to kids, as far as our face-to-face time and our ability to interact with each other without isolating itself to a phone. I think that has to be something that's very challenging.

You used to be able to just call people. You didn't have to be on someone's calendar to have a phone conversation. The telephone was an important and valuable domain of communication, both for casual, friendly chats and for professional exchanges of ideas and information. But no more.

Certain kinds of intimacy emerge on a phone call that might never occur if you were sitting right next to the other person.

I don't like telephones.

We didn't have a phone when I was a kid, and I was too shy to smash any public phones, and our town didn't have a pool hall either, so I had to hang out at the public library - and anyway, I told myself stories.

The telephone, which interrupts the most serious conversations and cuts short the most weighty observations, has a romance of its own.

I'm old fashioned with my cell phone. I like that human contact and I think it's important.