Huh!!

People watching the other day, everyone who passed by were all on their phones, I was waiting fir one of them to walk into a lamp post or each other. Even mums pushing prams ...talking on them instead of to their children.
It’s addictive, and here am I, not yet dressed, on My iPad.

It's weird. DH and I were in a café the other day and people who were out together were ignoring each other and using their phones instead.

I have a friend who always has her phone on the table when we meet for coffee. She doesn't fiddle with it but will answer a text and even chat if she gets a call. So rude !

A similar thing happened to me nina - I met a friend for coffee and a chat yet she was on her phone continually, hardly talking to me at all - so I got up and walked out. The look of surprise on her face as I walked away was a picture! She later contacted me and apologised and at subsequent meetings her phone has stayed in her bag. I would add she wasn't waiting for an important call, just scrolling through Facebook and making the odd comment about what she was reading.

I get the changes albeit reluctantly but the one I hate is when a friend posts on facebook that they are having lunch with their friend I.e. Me in whatever pub while I'm sitting waiting for her to finish so we can enjoy the lunch!

My niece who is upstairs texts her mother downstairs to see what's for lunch !Most people have a monthly rental.I think if they had pay as you go they might think differently.

Because if they didn't post none of their friends would know what a fantastic time they are having. Camping in the country and posting, completely different to what they usually do-sit at home posting!!!!

Reminds me of this I send out to people instead of saying all phones are barred !

That's a brilliant one, Coconut! May I steal it?

In our local card shop I had to laugh; a greeting card showing a group of assorted ages sitting around on chairs and sofas and the floor, all staring at their screens, and 'Mum' is saying 'Isn't it lovely to get all the family together'. I also read a thought provoking line in a paper ' Talk to your parents; one day you will look up from your phone and they won't be there'.

Of course grandMattie ... it’s caused many a chuckle !

My husband and I communicate by text about 80% of the time even when we are both at home.

Also reminds me of a Pinterest quote I sent to my eldest GD “ I broke my phone so had to talk to my family .... they seem like quite nice people “ she did laugh !

In Hong Kong there are signs on the underground telling people to look up from their phones so they don't bump into people. What is the world coming to???

I was watching that programme 'Indian summer school'. The headmaster, who had previously worked in a large school in UK, has completely banned mobile phones etc. He said that 80% of all the problems in his UK school experience was due to what he called 'gadgets'. Any pupil would automatically pay more attention to their phones than a teacher. All hell would break loose if they were confiscated.
The indian boys got used to phone free life within a week. They have a 100% pass rate in exams...
Interesting programme if anyone is looking for something to watch.

On the way back from town, 19/23 people walking alone were looking down at their phones. The sky was blue, the trees beginning blossom and the flowers beginning to grow. All missed.
My other concern is that these people will have posture problems-and it won’t just be in old age either.

The rule in my house. Please come for lunch but phones are not allowed at the table.

My local cafe/ garden centre has this mess on a board ' We don't have wifi. Try talking to each other. '

Oops message.

In defence of the kids here referring to the headmaster banning phones in the school They get very mixed messages, in some high schools they often have to look things up for class work on their phones then get told off if they use them in class
I m thinking a lot is a generational thing I was always getting told off for having my head in a book even at the table if I was eating alone ( no siblings) and always took my book to the loo and under my desk if the lesson was boring I agree that it can be out of proportion and I hate all the bullying that can go along with it all but they can give a lot of information and learning too

sunseeker maybe your great niece and friends had just sat down after a wonderful country walk or after a struggle to put up the tents?
Maybe they messaged each other and posed with phones for a laugh?

I don't mind someone having a quick look at their phone when I'm with them, but not looking at it all the time, or keeping it on the table.
Luckily no-one I know does that.

If I were you, Sunseeker, I would warn my great niece that posting anything that clearly states you are away from home is an open invitation to burglars!

To me texting, phoning, going online are the same as reading a book or a letter. In other words, not activities to be carried on in company. When its just DH and me sitting in the sitting-room the one of us DH may be watching TV while the other (me) is reading, but we are still old-fashioned enough not to do so when we have visitors.

BlueBelleI was and still am sometimes, the same! It drove my dad crazy, I always had a book beside me at the table, trying to look as if I wasn't really reading it. Now I always read in the loo! I suspect my friends and I would have been avid texters had we been given the chance! Now I hardly remember where my mobile is once I am indoors, to the irritation of my children of course. But then I've always been weird - about writing letters even. I tend to live in a world of my own. I don't defend it and I make no excuses, indeed I'm very bad and a lost cause.

Jane10
I watched the programme, cant wait to see the outcome as I'm really routing for one of the boys.
Am I alone in being embarrassed/ ashamed/ angry at some of these boys attitude towards being given this wonderful opportunity?