At what point does a bicycle become “inactive” in the eyes of local residents where you live? What amount of time must pass (or state of disrepair be reached) before it becomes safe to lock your bicycle to it without risk of ruining someone else’s commute/day?

In your context, what are the consequences when you have locked your bike to one that is still “active”?

Consider also the forces that are gradually displacing both this practice and the act of “locking” being something that one consciously does. As our phone increasingly becomes the center of gravity for more of our daily activities, think about the increased price of having one’s phone battery die, and what it means for accessing mobility, identity, etc. in a given moment.

Finally, when the act of “locking” one’s bicycle no longer requires a sufficiently solid/stationary object to which to lock it, how does that influence where people decide to leave their bicycles, and are those places considered “appropriate” places to park by today’s standards?