I recently had a conversation on phone with an octogenarian relative of mine who was learning how to use his first android cell phone. He mistakenly muted his phone during the conversation and did not know how to unmute it. He could not hear me speaking to him but I heard him muttering under his voice as he struggled in vain to unmute his phone.
While I was reflecting on how frustrating it was to be mistakenly muted in our conversation, it occurred to me that we too usually purposely…