If you haven’t seen this video yet (and there’s a good chance you have considering it has had well over 26 million views at the time of writing) then you should watch – and take note!
There is a lot I have to say on this subject. I am definitely in the ‘how rude!’ camp. It’s not as straight forward as this though. There’s a time and a place for the smartphone. I love my smartphone as much as the next geek, but I will never take it out during a meal. If it’s an emergency, which doesn’t come up as often as we are lead to expect, than I excuse myself like a normal person.
But that’s just it. Normal doesn’t mean enjoying the moment for what it is anymore. Normal has slowly become, “Oh wow! What a great time we are having – let’s Instagram it!”
I take photos every now and then. I have a DSLR for those important events, and yes, my phone is great for the unexpected moment. I do, however, have a problem with people uploading the same ‘selfie’ about fifty times a day. No, we don’t want to see every single morsel of food you put in your mouth, or how stupid you can look pulling a duck-face.
I think to myself when I see these accounts, how do you have the time?
I know how much time technology and especially Facebook can take up. I admit, I am guilty of a love-hate relationship with the devil that is Candy Crush. I’m on level three-hundred-and-something. I hate that I’ve spent so much time playing it, where I could have been doing something brilliant and productive like reading a book or going to the gym. (*Idea – Candy Crush at the gym?!)
I have had to tell my brother to put his phone away on a visit. I mention this because he is family, and it is acceptable to be blunt with your family in a way that you wouldn’t with say, a work colleague. I found it rude. We were out for dinner, and I was trying to make conversation as we hadn’t seen each other for months, but I was second best to a text that could probably wait.
The worrying thing is that more and more people are falling into the following categories;
- Those who find this behaviour rude but are culprits unknowingly and
- Those who just don’t care because it’s so common now.
The amount of families I see out to dinner with little ones on phones, iPads and the like. Then the parents worry why their speech isn’t developing normally. “But they are really smart because they know how to hack the passcode on my tablet!”
Like I said, I love my smartphone. I love having google right there to answer every ridiculous question I have at any time of the day. But there are times when maybe it’s just better to talk to the person next to you. Let’s face it, they might have something to offer that you can’t find on your phone…
