Smar phones have ruined socializing

"Smart" goddammit.

Agree. It’s awful. Most people have just become robots staring at their little screens. It’s one thing to do it when alone but if you’re out with someone or a group it’s rude and depressing. I’ve left my phone at home a few times recently on purpose and there’s something very freeing about it. Which is pathetic really.

I immediately pull out my phone as soon as I get seated at the Hibachi table. I have no desire to talk to strangers and going through the usual BS questions (I.e. What do you do? Do you have kids? Etc).

Talking is so 20th Century

I order my food to be served directly upon my large iTablet so that I can both eat it and browse my social media simultaneously, and with optimal lighting.

Who cares about cell phone usage at other tables? I find it more unsettling when couples don't use their phones but also don't speak to each other—total silence. Imagine getting to a point in a relationship where you have nothing to say to each other on a night out.

I f****** hate them. However on the elevator at work I often spend the entire time making faces everybody else on the elevator and they never even notice because God forbid they ever even look up for their phones for 2 seconds.

My friend Sarah makes her kids throw their phones in a bowl by the dining room door. If they don't, they don't eat, so they drop the phones on the way in.

[quote]I immediately pull out my phone as soon as I get seated at the Hibachi table. I have no desire to talk to strangers

What about when you go out to dinner with others, which is what this thread is about?

Many take it to the toilet. We need Musks brain chip and let the body wither away. I am all for that. The physical world is for the dysfunctional and the defective.

OP, no one wants to talk you because you’re a cunt. It has nothing to do with phones.

Slightly derailing the main topic but they’ve ruined concerts too. At least if you’re seeing an artist whose fans aren’t all 50+. Put your phone away and enjoy it, dance, clap, whatever.

Yes, R11. I am a cunt but I don't care if they talk to me. The discussion is about the fact they don't even talk to their own dinner companions.

R6, I've seen that too and find it bizarre.

Most people are not worth talking to anyway.

OP here again. The reason I even posted this is because in the past whenever I went to a restaurant like a Japanese steakhouse, which was not often, people watched the chef and interacted with him. It was entertainment. We didn't necessarily engage with others at the table though we'd often strike up a lively conversation. Hardly anyone even watched last night and you could tell the chefs were rather disengaged due to that. The customers weren't interested so neither were they.

I hate smart phones and have never owned one.

R16 I find that incredibly hard to believe

r17 🤷

I noticed years ago that social media ruined parties. I don't use it personally. It's more spontaneous to run into someone, maybe catch up. But everyone has a profile and no secrets , of course they're not interesting either. Then there's the thoughtless remarks like if you're not on Facebook you don't exist. I'm like ok and just walk away. So rude.

I have a great smartphone, Galaxy S24, because Verizon gave it to me. I carry it always, because you just never know when you might need to know the time 🤷‍♂️

When I waited tables waaaay back before cellphones were a thing, dysfunctional, pissy, demanding and inevitably poor tipping couples would read the newspaper as a way to avoid one another. Now we're all that couple

I stopped using Smar phones and started using Smear phones. It's fabulous! I just dial any number at random and my phone smears whoever answers on the other end. The most vile, disgusting smears and accusations imaginable. My phone surely must be possessed by the spirit of a dead bitter queen.

It's actually sad that couples are that disconnected R21.

I remember the exact moment I realized the battle was lost.

Decades ago, I had secured a seat at a much-anticipated late-night showing of a Star Wars movie (I don’t even remember which one, but it was either one of the original three or the one that introduced Jar-Jar ).

A kid beside me **made a call** in the middle of it.

That’s when I knew I was a coward, too, because I didn’t do or say a thing.

[quote]That’s when I knew I was a coward, too, because I didn’t do or say a thing.

MARY!!!