I’m Tired of Being on the Network

You can tell how tired someone is of the always-online life pretty easily. When they get home, watch the distance between the phone and the body. The people who love being connected never let the thing leave them be it pocket, palm, face-down next to the fork. Everyone else sets it down the way you drop a heavy backpack after a long day of walking. My wife does not set her phone down so much as launch it. From her hand to the far corner of the room, the phone travels from indispensable to litter in under a second.For my part, I've come to resent the smartphone, which is an embarrassing thing to admit, because I used to be a believer. I researched every new model. I switched between iOS and Android just to taste each new future as it arrived. I lined up for the first iPhone at 3 a.m., stood in the dark to get a glimpse of the thing itself. I remember being genuinely moved when the Apple Store employees clapped for me. In hindsight this is mortifying, roughly on par with the year I dyed…