When you pick your phone over the person in front of you, they notice.

Nobody misses it, however smoothly you think you did it. A glance down in the middle of somebody’s sentence tells them where they rank at that moment, and the message arrives even when you look back up quickly. Most people will not mention it, which is why it accumulates rather than getting resolved.

When somebody is talking to you, put the phone out of your hand rather than face down. If you genuinely have to check something, say what it is and why. Notice how different a conversation feels when nobody is half elsewhere.