It can be hard to help friends in need.

So let's get some inspiration from author's Langston Hughes, Simon Rich and Miranda July.

Coming up on selected shorts, fresh ideas about accountability, advice, and learning to swim

without a pool.

I'm Meg Wallitzer, stay right where you are.

We're listening to selected shorts, where our greatest actors transport us through

the magic of fiction, one short story at a time.

When was the last time you were out to eat?

Just you and a friend, and whenever there was a little pause in the conversation, your friend

picked up their phone to answer a text or check email.

The first time you didn't mind, but then it happened again and again and again, your

friend occupied by the glow of the screen and you stranded in silence with your Caesar

salad.

Weird, you thought, until it happened again the next time you went out to dinner and

the next.

So you wondered what would happen if during her big monologue about her passive-aggressive

sister-in-law, you whipped out a book and just started reading.

You love your friend, you want to continue to love your friend.

So when is it time to craft your complaint, take a deep breath and speak up?

While I don't have a definitive answer for you, or for any of us coping with the scourge

of phone snubbing, we all might find one in this episode of selected shorts.

Today's stories are about people who have fallen into a certain pattern of behavior and

...