Mobile phones can be a menace

I think it is a generational thing and I m happy to be considered 'young' my grandkids think I m 'with it' haha
The other week my grandson said do a 'dab' Nan thinking he'd caught me out ... I did a dab which he then had to put on snapchat haha he was amazed I knew how to dab that showed him LOL

I think the looking at social media etc by young people is only the equivalent to having your head in a book which I was always accused of 'Get your head out that book and get on with so and so ' it's a distraction to mundane life and it is a bit addictive

No excuse at social functions or lunch though

I don't think it's generational; the two people that I know who are most glued to their phones (checking & answering texts etc during meals - and even conversations - are both my age & I'm retired). Younger people, while always having their phones near them, actually continue a conversation...!
I do agree about parents paying more attention to their phones than their children (stepping off pavements without looking for traffic, not keeping an eye on children in playgrounds, swimming pools etc) but I wouldn't be without my phone, as I use it for all kinds of things (diary, shopping list, menu planning etc) because it's always there when I need it...

They do have their uses. My DiL can keep track of my GS (11) by tracking his mobile, so she knows where he is if not what he's up to!I like mine for its camera and am on the lookout for a deal on a new phone with a better one. I mainly use the phone for texting or 'what's app' with family but use my free call time to talk to my sons.

A final thought, when you really need one, when you break down in the middle of nowhere, what's the betting you'll find you're in a dead zone with no coverage and it won't work?

I wish you luck in finding your simple phone Rosina. I tried and was treated like I was demented. I went for the simplest phone I could get but couldn't avoid the bells and camera even if I did escape the whistles.

Definitely a generation thing. I can't stand people always hanging onto their phones. I sat next to a family of 5 in a service area and they were all on their phones, even the little one (about 3!) was on her ipad. I hate sitting on a train and the whole carriage having to listen to "we're at xxx, I'll be in the office in 10 minutes" - are you really so indispensible (or insecure) - that people need to know that unless you're already late for an appointment?
My daughter can't go anywhere without her phone and admittedly it has been very useful in the past for getting us to the hospital when we'd taken a wrong turn; but for hubby and me it's for finding each other when out shopping, or using as a substitute camera. Can't remember the last time I called someone or received a call.

With you all the way, Yorkshiregel. We both have smartphones; more or less forced into having them by insistent son (loves every gadget) but the contracts are ending soon and I shall revert to a simple phone with text facility. In the last analysis, it is just a phone - or should be. A text facility is very handy, but as I am not running a major company, nor am I a very important person, I am taking the view that if there is an emergency anyone can ring me, and emails and surfing etc. can wait until I get home and have time to sit at the PC. Why would I need to know how many emails have arrived while I am out? The incessant 'ping! ping!' of the notification makes you curious to know what is happening, but it's usually an advert and for that you can potentially interrupt a conversation that is far more interesting.

As for mothers with prams- 'had I not leaped out of the way recently a mother shoving a huge buggy at speed, racing along the road and having a row at the top of her voice (shouting, face scarlet) would have crashed into me without even noticing I was there. A stallholder nearby called out 'That was a lucky escape love!'.

My DM (87) has always refused to have a mobile phone which worried us when she was out out night driving on rural roads, fear of breakdown & how would she get help, her mobility is restricted but she stuck "to her guns" thankfully she has had to give up driving so it's not necessary

Mine lives on my dining table most of the time but if I take it with my when I'm out, but it lives in my handbag so I can't hear it when I'm driving.

Only time I find it really useful is when I go to visit DM as it's a long journey & some-one has to meet me at the Station

I do agree with others regarding social occasions - put it away, there is very rarely any need to have access unless you're expecting a "life or death" situation.

Glad I am not the only hater of the anti-social use of mobile phones. I cannot imagine how insecure these people are who keep having to check their "friends" and whatever do they find to text about all day long; trivia? As for phones in restaurants or at the meal table - don't get me started on that one!
My husband and I do have mobiles as we live in rural France and when driving around on one's own it is reassuring to know help could be at hand if required. They are i-phones. pay as you go with no internet connection except if in a free wi-fi zone. Our old stone house has such thick walls and is in a weak signal black spot so we use the landline whilst indoors.
I I have my computer for all banking/e-mails/ internet shopping etc. so not exactly a technophobe - just still think a phone is for the occasional call - it is always in my handbag so if I do not go out for a couple of days would not know if someone had called. I also find squinting at a small screen frustrating so could not imagine doing all my internet viewing on a phone.
Do find it useful on holiday , out and about or in the large supermarkets and shops to reel in husband when he has gone walkabout . Take a mini-ipad on holiday for other internet use. A € 30 top-up lasts more than a year.

Many years ago when hubby first got a mobile phone, he took me out for lunch. A friend phoned him during lunch and he spent the entire time talking to him. The waitress came over at the end of the meal and told him if she was his wife she'd have thrown the phone out the window. He was mortified, as at the time he hardly noticed what he'd done. He still takes business calls at odd times, but never during a meal.

My DH needed to see a consultant with some urgency and so we decided to go privately. Said doctor had her mobile on her desk and responded to calls via short texts/emails 4 times during consultation. No apologies or 'excuse me, I must take this', she just stopped either speaking to us or listening and answered her phone. The final insult was the £250 fee!

i use a mobility scooter the times i have to swerve or stop as someone is texing as they walk even mothers with pushchairs

We have one between us but hardly ever use it, apart from when one of us goes some distance, usually shopping, just for emergencies.
Our bank, and Orange, ask for the mobile number to text messages, rather than ring on our landline. I don't know why.

I always have mine on 'vibrate' and 'silent'.

Nothing ruder or more anti social than those who are forever checking & using their phones when with others.

But wouldn't be without it .... on the motorway for example.

I'm convinced there's some addictive device implanted into all mobiles .... BIG BROTHER and all that. I am joking of course but ....

I agree with most of the comments made so far. But — there is always a 'but' — sometimes those phones are lifelines. I spent 15 years with both parents and most of it DH too, always in danger of emergency admission to hospital, with cardiac, diabetic and stroke crises imminent. This meant I never drank alcohol at all, because I was always likely to be summoned to drive to help, deal with hospital admissions etc., at any time of the day or night. Knowing my father could always contact me gave him and me confidence that help could be summoned. I was 60 miles away. That difference between me knowing immediately or having to wait to get home and get a message at the end of a long day was huge. With dementia in the picture those messages were often incomprehensible by the time they reached me!

Everyone knew my situation. They were supportive of my need to keep an eye on my phone.

Most phones have a vibrate function. Put it in your pocket and turn off the ring. Then no one else needs to be disturbed.

All the other complaints seem to spring from good manners. Who was responsible for teaching those? And they also reflect a lack of security and sense of self-worth. Again, where did the younger generations learn those?

This is a new technology. The codes for social use are being written by us all every day. Can we not feed in with experience and understanding so the debate includes us all? We are as entitled to a view as anyone else. Simply getting cross and refusing to play is not helpful to anyone.

The theory of me having a mobile phone was in case of emergency. However, should said emergency arise, I'm not sure I would be able to locate my phone and the chances of it being charged up are nil. No-one (important) ever rings me (they know it's a waste of time).

It is useful when I am meeting friends to actually have the phone with me, fully charged, in case they need to text me. I have been known to search and find the phone and charge it up ready for these occasions. Or not.

I went on a works do with about a dozen colleagues, mainly in their 20's and 30's who were friended to each other on facebook. I was amused and pained to watch them all use their mobiles to check in with their current location, and then get notifications from all the others who were sitting at the table with us!

I love my smartphone and wouldn't be without it, however.... On social occasions, I believe that use of mobiles should not allowed. I can't understand why people get so obsessed with not having access to their phone when they are visiting someone or on a night out.
So, use of phones at my house are restricted lol. For example, a tradition with my family at Christmas is breakfast before opening presents. As the Christmas before had been annoying that morning, with various people having to look at their phones every couple of minutes, I used a Christmas tray and passed it round to collect everyone's phones (mine included,) so that we could have at least an hour of a 'social Christmas'
I shall be doing this every year from now on and also will apply this to any Grandchildren, when they are old enough to have a phone, as to me it is so simple...popping round to visit? ~ then you don't need your phone whilst chatting to your family members.
Lastly ~ Movie night/watching TV with others ~ NO PHONES, yeah I'm strict lol
Hope that doesn't make me sound over-bearing? I just think that any generation of phone user, should be able to live without their phone when they are in company.

xxx

I've had a car written off by a girl too busy on her phone to see that I had stopped. On the other hand if someone has been delayed and needs to stop you worrying about their lateness it is invaluable.
Like most things they are good when used sensibly, but not everyone is.

When out for a meal suggest all phones are placed on the table and the first one to touch theirs, picks up the bill. Quite a deterrent! Seriously though, I share many of the concerns raised, especially with regard to phones seeming to take precedence over young children. However, I'm also sure there was some equivalent to the phone that our parents generation despaired and yet we survived :-)

Love my smart phone very rarely use it for actual calls but for lots of other things. Catching up with my children and grandkids on FB while I'm away from home, banking, GN of course and keeping in touch with OH when he is fishing somewhere on his own , wouldn't be without it when motorway driving either it gives me piece of mind . Everyone has a different perspective but I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. My little granddaughter has quite a long walk home from her new high school and I can't tell you how much it's relieved her anxiety to have a phone in her pocket to contact us if she needs to.

At a funeral recently- the final part of the Good Bye sermon - and someone's phone goes off with a rock tune from Iron Maiden.

With you all the way Yorkshiregel.

On holiday recently we watched all families at the table in great restaurants, all on their phones- and young couples too. One couple from Rome was on honeymoon and were on the phone all the time.

I do have one ... somewhere.

Me too BlueBelle. I don't give the number out to other than close family and friends. I mainly use it for texting or on the internet. Its how I access GN for instance.

I love my phone and wouldn't be without it it's always in my pocket at hand it's my social connection with the world without it I d feel very isolated I wouldn't use it at the table only in emergencies and certainly wouldn't have a conversation when with company if it rang I would ask to ring them back but I wouldn't want to be without it I use it more for texting than talking