[papertyger]

As he spoke, a pan view of the crowd showed about 70% of the students were focused on their phones and were oblivious to the experience playing out in front of them.

I think "oblivious" is a bit presumptuous on your part. Most likely they were "discussing" the proceedings with their friends.

[davius]

In a situation such as that, is there more to be learned from the first hand reactions of people around you or the remote impression of Sally that she nearly peed herself when she heard gunfire? No screen can supersede the impressions made by life experience.

It baffles me that an organism could launch into full alert mode and turn to surfing as a 'survival' strategy.