After watching practically everyone in a restaurant hypnotized by

[kairos12]

staring at their phones I have concluded The Eagles were correct.

"We are all just prisoners here, of our own device."

Way ahead of the curve.

[Ray Bruns]

1. What? I missed that. I was texting my brother.

[sl8]

2. Nice.

Seriously, that's good.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. And not just in restaurants either. It's everywhere! You go out and visit someone, etc., guess ...

what? They are staring at their phones. What's the point of even meeting one's friends if that's all you are going to do, stare at your phone? Are you that lonely or desperate to get any messages on your phone? I like it when a crowd of us get together, one of the rules we have is to put the phones away!

[moonscape]

7. Easy for me as I never stare at

my flip phone.

Unfortunately, not having a smart phone, not texting, has gotten me into some trouble. The last was this weekend at a funeral and saw an old friend. She said she thought I didn’t like her anymore because I never responded to her. She had been texting me! And I’ve had numerous people texting my landline.

A health provider wants me to pre-register for appointments yet won’t allow unless I provide a cell number. Literally unable. I have a flip but only use for emergencies so don’t give the number out.

Not easy being an unwavering dinosaur.

[homegirl]

38. You are not alone..

My children keep giving me electronic devices which I never use. Mastering a computer and the internet is the extent of my interest and ability.

[Conjuay]

50. yes

another dinosaur here. My flip decided it could not recharge anymore, and I ended up getting a “smart” phone. God, it’s awful.

I didn’t even like the flip phone, it was just too bulky and heavy!

Wish I was still using my old alcatel burner phone.

[moonscape]

55. Alcatel flip is what

I use! ATT has a plan for go phone that is $2/day all day with use. Otherwise no fees. I figure it costs me about $10/month and when I’m out and about am pleased not to be reached. Close friends have my number for emergency but are shocked if I actually answer .

Got an iPhone once because there was an app I really wanted to use with a device and there was no other way. Had it a week and returned it. Ack! It’s not a technology issue (using computers since the 80’s) just that like you, hate it. No way do I want to be tethered all the time.

[ProfessorGAC]

59. My Wife Was A Late Adopter

She likes texting her friends & it's way easier on a smartphone.
I don't believe she's ever accessed the web on it, though.
Just talk & text.
I'm different.
I used a phone for all company emails for years before retirement. So, I got used to using it.
I don't, however, do any social media, unless DU counts.
Even then, I might use a tablet or laptop.

[Walleye]

4. You know something is happening, but you don't know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones?

[rubbersole]

43. ...as he clicked his high heels...

[Chainfire]

5. I have often wondered if the young couples on dates were texting each other.

[nilram]

6. I can quit at any time.

As soon as I’m done with my game.

[TheBlackAdder]

9. My mom smoked right up to her death. She would always say she could quite at any time. 🤣

.

Never could.

.

[TxGuitar]

8. So what?

What if they were discussing something and had to look something up? Or looking for a picture? There's a thousand and one reasons people could be on their phones in a restaurant. It's a different world than the one we older people grew up in. Not better or worse, just different. We can accept that and move on or complain and come across bitter.

[twodogsbarking]

10. The bane of our existence.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

19. Yeah, sucks being able to communicate with people

[tenderfoot]

11. Before cell phones, they would have be hypnotized by newspapers, magazine or books

[fierywoman]

12. ... but not at restaurants!

[tenderfoot]

14. Yes at restaurants.

Perhaps not formal dining situations but people read at restaurants, diners, fast food joints, etc...

[Bettie]

53. I always have taken a book to a restaurant

now, I take a kindle and I usually have my phone.

My Dh isn't a big talker in restaurants, so I read.

[kskiska]

58. I still bring a book when I go to a restaurant alone.

I seem to be the only one who does this, though. Once in a great while someone will approach me and ask, "What are you reading?" It's usually another book person who's really interested.

[tenderfoot]

61. I always bring a book as well.

Beats browsing/texting any day.

[Chellee]

67. I take a book with me everywhere.

So does my daughter. We often read at restaurants, even when we're there with each other, not every time, but plenty. Since we drive to the restaurant together, the entire "how was your day? did you hear about so and so? what did you think about this thing?" has already taken place. We enjoy reading, sometimes we read particularly good bits to each other.

We also use our phones because sometimes we want to look stuff up. I love it! It's so much easier than having to try and remember to look it up later.

And, admittedly, we sometimes use them to have surreptitious conversations about other people in the restaurant because we don't want them to hear us talking about them.

[USALiberal]

21. Lots of people read the paper in the morning at a restaurant

[AZSkiffyGeek]

27. Sshh, you're killing their "kid's these days!" rant

[alphafemale]

56. Yep. Plenty of movie/TV scenes

With kids trying to talk to their dad through a newspaper.

Not any difference at all, really.

[ShazzieB]

48. I've read books in plenty of restaurants.

Also newspapers, magazines...and my phone. I blame it on ADHD in my case. Any time I have to sit around with nothing to do will turn into a major fidget fest if I don't have something to occupy my mind. The phone is way easier and more convenient than lugging a book, etc., around.

I'll set the reading material aside when I actually have food to concentrate on, because I like food. The rest of the time, I'll probably be reading. Of course, these days I only go out to eat with members of my immediate family, and we're all used to each other.

My daughter's eyes are also usually glued to her phone, and my husband is apt to read a newspaper while eating. We're all huge introverts, and none of it bothers any of us. The phones also provide conversational topics, whether it's an interesting item in the news, a funny cat meme, or something else.

I wouldn't read if I was sharing a meal with someone who was bothered by it, but why some perfect stranger sitting at another table should gaf is beyond me.

[JanMichael]

52. Certainly not at bars. I was there. Only a dickhead had an open paper at the bar in the 80's.

And I mean a bar where college kids were at not TGIF's or the airport lounge.

Oh! And a book:

[padfun]

13. In the old days, they stared at their newspapers

It looked just the same back then.

the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Edit: I see the poster two above me already pointed this out.

[tenderfoot]

15. and got flamed for it

[questionseverything]

16. In the old days, people actually talked to each other

[tenderfoot]

28. They still do today.

[kacekwl]

45. Nonsense, people read/read the paper on the train, bus or at

a restaurant having a meal by themselves. Not when out with people or visiting someone's home. Why would you try to compare the behavior of people today with reading a newspaper ? What people do these days with their devices would be rude and unacceptable in decades past. Acceptable today but I still consider it rude. Yea I'm old but I can speak to people in person and carry on a intelligent conversation with actual words.

[BlackSkimmer]

17. I do a lot of walking with my dogs.

Many times I walk through parks or by parents with kids. It breaks my hearts that they’re staring at their phone, sometimes even while pushing the swings,

But usually completely engaged with phones, not kids.

My dad used to push us on the swings and then run in front of us, daring us to catch him. Of course, we didn’t, but it was a fun game.

[LisaM]

25. I don't like when people are on their phones when walking dogs or kids.

Dogs are social and a walk is the high point of their day. It breaks my heart when they're looking hopefully up at their owner and the owner won't engage.

We can learn a lot from dogs.

[blueinredohio]

35. I also see this alot.

Kids trying to talk to mom or dad. Mom or dad ignoring them. Sad!

[Demobrat]

42. I see it in my coffee shop every day.

Parents staring at their phones while their kids sit there and literally cry for attention, or run around unchecked.

They could at least give the kid something to eat, or something to do, but they don’t even do that. They just sit and stare at the phone while the kid squirms.

Occasionally they’ll tell the kid to sit still or be quiet. But that’s the extent of the engagement.

Sad.

[Conjuay]

51. I work in

the entertainment capital of the world. (no, not LasVegas). It amazes me that, after spending over a hundred dollars to get in the gate, they wander around staring at their own hand.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

18. Damn Kids!

How dare people I don't know and am not having any interaction with do something that isn't affecting me at all!!!!

[kairos12]

22. Restaurant behavior carries on to other things.

Check back with me when someone texting hits you head on with their SUV.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

26. I didn't realize people were driving in the restaurant

That's different. Definitely don't drive your SUV in a restuarant.

[tenderfoot]

29. Texting while serving food. Has that happened yet?

eom

[sarcasmo]

20. Cell phone addiction is off the charts. I shut mine off from midnight to 7 AM.

[Joinfortmill]

23. Cool

[world wide wally]

24. My cellphone is going to end up in the toilet......eventually

[SleeplessinSoCal]

30. I'm a slave to my phone.

Taking it in for repair us actually painful. I try not to look at it all day. But knowing it's at an arm's reach is comforting.

[iluvtennis]

31. I get on my 20 years olds about this all the time. I always ask, aren't you supposed to be

out with you friends to enjoy their company. But, I see y'all at the mall food court ot at the part or etc all just looking at your phones and not talking with each other. I tell them if you're gonna do that, then just stay at home.

When I take them to tennis matches, college football games, college basketball games, etc - I collect up the phones and put them in my purse. Tell them we're here to immerse ourselves into the event, not to be on phones.

[Vinca]

32. I've noticed that important events aren't seen through the eyes anymore, they're seen

through the lens of a cell phone camera. Even watching the procession carrying the Queen through Scottish streets. People couldn't just stand and watch the ritual, they had to record it . . . as if there won't be a billion other recordings of the same event.

[FormerOstrich]

36. Exactly!

What I think makes it even worse.... All the huge data centers (cloud) with all these bazillions videos and pictures no one will probably ever see. Yet, we use a ton of water to keep all those servers cool.

[Skittles]

62. indeed

and they look like fucking morons

[Roc2020]

33. smartphones are so intertwined in everyday life

frankly very few businesses can exist without one. Entertaiment, family, info, shopping etc...it's taken over.

[sdfernando]

34. what was the joke....

Would you like to come over to my house? It will be fun. I'm having a bunch of people over to stare at their phones.

[lark]

37. I worked in a high rise building with over 3000 people.

I almost never left at 5, traffic is too bad. When i did, however, I was amazed at the absolute wave of people - almost every one of them talking to someone on their cell or with their head down and eyes glued to the screen and usually texting. Very few were talking to the people around them. The groups that did stood out with their camaraderie in a sea of people ignoring each other.

[Bristlecone]

39. As I read this from my device....

I need to cut way back in my phone use.

[GreenWave]

40. It has even infected the future!

Star Trek the Next Generation
Season 5 Episode 6

The Game

[link:|

[rubbersole]

41. Well, you can check out, but you can never leave...

[kairos12]

44. You need to

Take It Easy.

[rubbersole]

60. In Winslow, Arizona

It's such a fine sight to see...

[Ford_Prefect]

46. Does anyone recall how the Walkman caused a very similar social disconnect? Early 1980's saw a very

similar social phenomenon. Headphones and a Walkman was a symbol of the apparent self-obsession of the age...Followed rapidly by the Gameboy. In the early 2000's it was the Blackberry. Tablets are everywhere and you cannot go to to a live event that is not overrun with phone wielding lemmings, warning signs notwithstanding.

[onethatcares]

47. what's kewl is

we've gone from a home phone to phones for everyone in the home with "plans" that keep us in touch with work, friends, and our bank accounts.

What's the next step?

Anyone else old enough to remember their dad saying to their mom, "Tell them I'm not here" when that damn convenience rang at dinner time?

Of course you are.

[Orrex]

49. That's not how they meant "device," of course, but it's a nifty coincidence of phrasing

[WhiskeyGrinder]

54. Who cares how other people spend their time?

[Mariana]

64. People who want to feel superior care how other people spend their time.

[kskiska]

57. I love looking at old photos of street scenes of NYC

but realized that those types of photos taken today would show everyone looking at their phones.

[brooklynite]

63. Years ago I was at a family dinner in Washington State at the Snoquakmie Inn...

(From TWIN PEAKS; next to the waterfall)

As we left, we passed a couple whose table had been romantically sprinkled with rose petals.

Both were reading their phones.

[treestar]

65. I don' t know

They might be looking up something they were just talking about.

Or one could share a photo that way and everyone could look at it - easier than passing the print photo around, or one person's phone.

Or looking up directions, or movies, if they thought they'd go to one.

[shrike3]

66. I still have a landline.

Just got a cell phone to get certain apps. I haven't used it yet.

I prefer reading and communicating on a PC. Which I am doing now.

[bedazzled]

68. I love to read on my phone

The palm beach library ebooks and audiobooks are awesome.