Do you ever find yourself having a conversation with someone and your train of thought is interrupted by the person reading a text they just received?
Does it bother you when you are out with someone and they can’t seem to put away their phone?
Yes? Well, I’m here to tell you to cut all of those vulgar people out of your life! For good! …Just kidding. I would never advise you to stop talking to these people, and I can’t make them stop doing these things either. What I can do, however, is give you advice on how to act like one of the most polite, appropriate, technology and social media users around. Interested? Keep reading, then.
Recently, while out to dinner, I noticed a family doing something that really struck me. Instead of sharing time together and enjoying a meal, they were all busy on their phones and not speaking. One table over was another family, with three children each playing some type of handheld gaming device, not engaging in conversation. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I had done that when I was younger, my parents would have taken the device away until after dinner. What is the point of going out to dinner at all, if you are just going to ignore each other? The term “breaking bread” is often associated with a religious definition, but even if you are not affiliated with any religion, you can surely agree with this concept. To make sure that I got a very generalized definition, I first looked up this phrase on dictionary.com and then urbandictionary.com. The definitions are as follows:
a. “To eat a meal, especially in companionable association with others.”
b. “To engage in a comfortable, friendly interaction. Originally, the term was literal, meaning that a loaf of bread would be broken to share and eat; a casual meal among associates.”
So, as you can see, neither of these families were really “breaking bread” and sharing in valuable family time. All that aside, what they were doing is just simply impolite, whether it be with family, friends, coworkers, or any various person you may find yourself dining with. We would find it rude if someone was posting a status during a movie, and absolutely appalling if someone was Instagraming a picture during a funeral! Yet, it seems like it has just become the norm to focus more on your phone, than each other while out to dinner. I propose that next time you are sharing a meal with someone, you do something crazy…put away your phone. More than likely, you won’t miss much in the one to two hours you’ll be out to eat. The world will not end, and if it does, having your phone probably won’t help much, anyway.
So, what do you think? Should people put away their phones and disconnect for a few hours while they are out to dinner? Are you one of the guilty ones with your phone permanently glued to your hand? Leave a comment and let me know!
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