Family Of Four Where Everyone Was On Their Own Cell Phone At The Restaurant

[ZackyDog]

I know, it's not my problem and none of my business. I just think it's sad.

As you were.

 

[WRHB]

If you are at our house eating and your phone rings my wife and I will give you the stink eye if you answer. Our kids and grandkids aren’t allowed to have phones near the table. We have good old fashioned conversations when we eat.

 

[canteytoque]

Although what you saw could have been coincidence—maybe something urgent had come up and they were all looking online for a solution—, I have to say I usually react just as you have. What strikes me as a sadder sight are couples doing that or, even worse, groups of friends, especially adolescents. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, and that kind of thing might be understandable in a family who've spent the last few days together on a trip, for example. It seems to be less and less reasonable as the bond among the individuals goes from blood to friendship.

Yesterday morning, I took my computer to a technician across town for some routine maintenance. I went there on my bike, with the computer in a backpack. There was a narrow bike lane most of the way, built between the road and the sidewalk, and I crossed paths with another cyclist going in the opposite direction in the middle of a particularly sharp S curve. As you might have guessed where my post is going, he didn't look up from his phone through the entire maneuver.

Editing because I forgot to add that I was top-heavy because it's a desktop computer, not a laptop. And the temperature was near 100 °F yesterday. It was enough to see red, as they say, but I was too exhausted to even think about it until this morning.

 

[ISmellSmoke]

Hey, maybe it was one of those restaurants where you have to scan a QR code to look at the menu, and they were each making considered selections...

 

[canteytoque]

Hey, maybe it was one of those restaurants where you have to scan a QR code to look at the menu, and they were each making considered selections...

There you go.

 

[24 track]

does our now generation need cell phones?, I've used one once , never had the desire to own one never saw the need . I just think it's a weird appendage to my existence. and I can use the 1200.00 a year it costs for other things I like

 

[msalama]

You see that crap all the time these days. Just two days ago, an e-scoot carrying THREE teenagers passed me by, and they all had their noses in their phones without a single eye on the road ahead. Man, it is the age of idiocy for real.

 

[Mjark]

does our now generation need cell phones?, I've used one once , never had the desire to own one never saw the need . I just think it's a weird appendage to my existence. and I can use the 1200.00 a year it costs for other things I like

You need one to park your car in most of the garages here in my town. Although the one time I tried it didn’t work.

I bank by phone pretty much exclusively. Event tickets are going to be phone only in the near future.

 

[City Sirens]

does our now generation need cell phones?, I've used one once , never had the desire to own one never saw the need . I just think it's a weird appendage to my existence. and I can use the 1200.00 a year it costs for other things I like

We're a rare breed (never had a cellphone myself).

I'm not technology-averse, I have 5 computers here (don't ask), a recording studio and other various techno stuff but cellphones... no thanks.

 

[LocoTex]

I see it everywhere I go. The one that really puzzles me is younger couples obviously on a date sitting at the table looking only at their phones. Do they even put down the phone when they have sex?!

 

[Dan German]

I try not to judge. I mean, I would rather do almost anything than have dinner-table conversation with some of the people in my family.

 

[bumnote]

Maybe they were talking to each other...

 

[bumnote]

Do they even put down the phone when they have sex?!

Only for the first few months of the relationship, its today's equivalent of leaving the TV on or off.

 

[swarfrat]

You need one to park your car in most of the garages here in my town. Although the one time I tried it didn’t work.

I bank by phone pretty much exclusively. Event tickets are going to be phone only in the near future.

This is what really burns me - a cell phone is a convenience. If you chose to not have or carry one - you should not be locked out as a result.

 

[Pops_Caster]

It’s the new norm, and it’s worldwide wherever there’s cell or WiFi. Sad commentary on the state of affairs.

 

[trapdoor2]

Makes me not want to drive the roads. I see people driving and texting every time I'm on the road.

Of course, I saw drivers reading newspapers and paperback books before cellphones too...

They're a tool. It has a on/off button.

QR code menus have started to become popular. Miz Diane will read a menu online before we go to a given restaurant but, no paper menu? She'll walk out.

 

[Trenchant63]

I know, it's not my problem and none of my business. I just think it's sad.

As you were.

I thought you meant four people on calls with speaker on phone! Ugh ….

 

[Emster]

I live in Thailand, and it is worse here than in USA (if possible). IF a restaurant only has menu on QR, I would leave... find a "user friendly" spot. I have a Thai wife & see sadly pitiful couples that don't know how to talk to each other, just staring into phone... taking airport rail into Bangkok about 90% or more glued to phone.
At beach where I jam with friends had extreme couple years back: some young Russian woman under blanket so could surf her phone... for week or so she was here... I wanted to scream "Why the hell did you come here? You don't look at beach, sea, etc... you could have stayed in Irkutsk locked in bathroom with lights out & had same experience!"
This addiction is greatly damaging brains and that is borne out by studies. In a few decades perhaps a few who are not addle brained will ask "Why didn't we see this? This is like asbestos, or tobacco... readily apparent to anyone this is destructive"
another prime example was Russian mother with 3 daughters, maybe 4 thru 9. Mother and 2 older girls all glued to screens. The 4 year old with a look of "what am I being punished for?" as she had no screen. Social isolation/exclusion is punishment and seems the only way out for most addicts is to get "the rigs" to siblings so they can all be in same solitary confinement.
To call it "connectivity" is about the greatest misnomer I've ever heard

 

[bottlenecker]

I know, it's not my problem and none of my business. I just think it's sad.

As you were.

How else are we supposed to share memes about other patrons with each other?

 

[Andy B]

My daughter was just here visiting for a week. Every meal we sat down together she had the phone or her iPad right there on the table. I finally said something to her about it. So she reluctantly stopped, but she still had her Apple Watch.