“All those people killing themselves by various means fast and slow, I’m telling you, part of that is that we just don’t gather anymore. We’ve stopped going to church, we’ve built suburbs where people don’t have that third place that isn’t work or home, where everybody can go hang out. You can’t do that at a chain restaurant; they want you out of there so they can seat the next customer. Young people don’t go to bars or clubs like they used to. But in general, there’s just no profit in providing a public place where we can all just go and be together. All the money is in, I don’t know, getting us addicted to some piece of software. You talked about people gambling on their phones; think how sad that is—going broke from blackjack from your sofa without even a cheap casino buffet to cushion the blow.”

— Ether in Jason Pargin, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, 2024, St. Martin’s Press, Ch. Day 1, p. 83