ISHMAEL N. DARO
Web Editor

Was Michael Winslow in all the Police Academy films? Are pandas actually a type of bear? Can coleslaw be considered salad? Remember when questions like these couldn’t be answered with a quick search on your phone?

Blame Steve Jobs. Since the iPhone and other smartphones became popular enough that every other person has one in his or her pocket, conversations everywhere have suffered.

It used to be that a dinnertime debate over trivial matters could be a witty and engaging experience. Now, however, those same participants are likely to just whip out their phones and end the discussion with “according to Wikipedia ”¦”

The situation is particularly bad at some parties where no one can utter a word without being fact-checked instantly by several iPhones, Androids and BlackBerrys. At times, I have been guilty of this, too, but lately I have tried to keep my phone in my pocket for the duration of the party. If a dispute arises that might require some quick Googling, I always ask if people would like me to check and end the debate.

For the record, Michael Winslow was in all seven Police Academy films, as well as the short-lived television series. Pandas are indeed a type of bear, belonging in the animal family Ursidae. And according to dictionary definitions, coleslaw is a kind of salad.

Fact-checking isn’t the only problem with the ubiquity of smartphones, though. There are also the chronic texters — admittedly, you could do that before the iPhone — photographers and social media updaters.

If you tell everyone on Facebook and Twitter that you are “At a gr8 party w/ Jack & Jill,” you actually are not. The party is happening all around you, but you are in another world altogether, where people communicate in strange truncated sentences and urge you to follow links even deeper into the Internet.

Another unfortunate side effect of having the Internet always at your fingertips is that you are much less likely to engage others or meet new people. Yes, we are all busy people with lots of friends who are always trying to get in touch with us, but the second you put your head down and focus on your phone, you encourage the people around you to do the same.

When cellphones first became popular in the late 1990s, comedians used to joke about the hotshot who was so popular that he couldn’t be out of touch for more than 30 minutes and just had to have a phone with him. We used to laugh at that guy and his Beethoven ringtone. But then we became that guy, all of us — although with better ringtones.

I’m not romanticizing the past; it really sucked not knowing things. The difference now is that we can know everything immediately. I’m not asking people to throw their phones away, but at least save the fact-checking for after the conversation has run its course, or if you are feeling really adventurous, turn your phone off the next time you are with people you might like to talk to.

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image: Flickr