We’re told that one way to combat, or slow, the coronavirus pandemic is social distancing. And there’s all sorts of news segments about what it is and how to do it.

But haven’t we already been practicing social distancing since, well… the advent of the smartphone?

I’ve been observing social distancing for years. At any restaurant, you can see people sitting at the same dinner table all ignoring each other and looking at their phones.

The only reason people run into each other in the streets is because they’re all ignoring each other while they stare at their phones.

No one talks to each other at work. Everyone sits with headphones on ignoring each other unless they’re typing instant messages to the person sitting next to them.

We don’t go have or create experiences of our own. Why would we when we can watch other people recording their experiences for us to see on Instagram?

There’s no looking at each other on public transportation. Not when we’re all too busy trying to see our shoes past our phones.

Many people think parents are failing their kids when they just hand them a tablet or phone to keep them occupied. We now know that parents were just ahead of their time as they were teaching their kids how to social distance themselves from other kids and adults.

People are concerned about social distancing like it’s going to be a real stretch or culture shock for society. I would say we’ve been practicing up for just this moment for over a decade.

This generation was built for this pandemic!