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    A Photographer Is Chronicling The "Death Of Conversation" Due To Smartphones

    "We are emotional beings and need human-to-human contact to feel good."

    This project is the work of Babycakes Romero, a London-based photographer.

    He told BuzzFeed News: "It was something I kept seeing over and over again as well as experiencing first hand."

    "They basically allow people to withdraw rather than engage."

    "The device takes precendence over the person that is present and that felt wrong."

    "When I noticed and photographed these people, they did not even seem present in the real world. They were 'plugged in' to a virtual world of their own making."

    "Personally I find online communication quite sterile and a very poor substitute for its face-to-face counterpart."

    "They know that every single thing that arrives on their device is somehow connected to them, whereas in conversation you are not always the focus."

    "It's almost as if we are starting to become incapable of processing someone else’s life because we have become so preoccupied with our own."

    None of the photos have been staged.

    "It is also making people very very dull. Everyone is on their phones, no one is speaking."

    "I felt that if I showed people through my photographs what it looked like, maybe they would at least consider how they used it."

    "They'd question whether it is appropriate to do it at the expense of those around them and also themselves."