flâneur

MY PHONE IS FOR ME, BUT IT IS ALSO FOR YOU - by anna

chiasm.substack.com · 2,199 words · saved by 1 readers

Our private behaviours on public platforms

I published this essay in June, but now it will live here. We’re laying on the couch, watching Reels on my phone. He takes ahold of it to search for something. Three letters into the query, his ex-girlfriend's profile appears at the top of the search results. I hope he doesn't notice (he does.) On the L train, my neighbour scrolls through his Twitter (“X”) feed. I want to read them over his shoulder but my curiosity is rudely obstructed by his privacy screen. The girl on my other side is analyzing who watched her Instagram story. She flips to the next one and repeats. I take my phone out,…

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