The End of People Watching

Airports always used to be a source of entertainment. I remember, as a kid, being excited to see all these interesting strangers going to exotic places: stressed families on a Spring Break trip to Florida, serious business travelers prepping a pitch en route to New York, bachelorettes in cowboy hats drinking their way to Nashville. But waiting in the Detroit airport for a flight to Denver a few months ago, something felt different.

In years past, I simply observed how other people dealt with their boredom. I would watch a husband and wife in an argument about something banal, like what they were having for dinner. I’d guess how long they’d been married, drawing a direct correlation between the length of their marriage and the length of their argument. Or maybe it was a young couple staring dreamily into each other’s eyes, and I would guess how long they’d been together. Or there were the colleagues from Ford, awkwardly constructing a conversation neither of them wanted any part of. Or I’d peer over someone’s shoulder to judge their taste in literature, scoffing at Danielle Steele’s latest release.

The airport answered the existential question: What do people do when they have nothing to do?

You know where this ends.

The couple next to me was not talking about dinner. The newlyweds were not gazing into each other’s eyes. The Ford colleagues weren’t even making eye contact. They were all glued to the glowing cubes in front of them. I looked around for a stranger to chat with, but noticed I’d be interrupting the season finale of Love Is Blind.

I gave up. I started to feel like a pariah for reading my book. I took out my phone, melted into my algorithm, and waited for my flight to board.

My boys are excited about our next flight in August—they haven’t been on a plane since before Covid. I try to teach a lesson on our trips. Specifically, I want them to be more observant of the world around them, even in the most mundane circumstances. What now? “See those kids over there—watch how they look at their iPad. Cool, right?” “And over there—that elderly couple is watching 60 Minutes.”

We will have to decide if we want to hand our kids those cubes or hand them books.

Either way, will anyone be watching?