As a child, prior to when I had my own smartphone, I was deeply engrossed in every screen my eyes fell upon. I have several memories of being in the waiting rooms of lobbies, offices, and hospitals watching whatever movie was displayed on the screen. At times I would look around the room and notice everyone around me also engrossed in the tv movie or show playing. I have many memories of being disappointed by having to leave before an episode or movie concluded. Anna McCarthy states: "For waiting is something we generally take for granted, rarely stopping to pay much attention to the specifics it establishes in space" (198). For me, waiting, especially in a public area is something I pay much attention to. I imagine the different lives all of us who wait have lived in order to bring us here at the same time and place, viewing the same screen, I wonder how many times we've unknowingly viewed the same show/program in our various lives at the same time. McCarthy writes: "Waiting areas are not places where we dwell; they are places we occupy temporarily, on the way to somewhere else" (198), however, in the moments we spend in waiting areas with others, we form a community of sorts, for however "temporarily" we are there. We are all waiting, together. In Nigeria, at the hair salons, we'd often watch shows with fellow customers as well as our hairdressers, bonding over the content, even upon having smartphones and personal devices, the community of those areas rarely diminished. In those moments, bonds were formed (with fellow customers you may never see again and hairdressers you'll reminisce on the episode/movie with later on). We all became tied by the one television in our shared midst.
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