Can someone explain this to me?

[Amber St. Clare]

last night we went to a local pub because our friends were playing in the band {We are all long time married people.}. We had a table reserved for us. So I notice that a table by us was empty with a sign "MEET UP". Over the course of the evening men and women came to the table, I guess to "meet up" with new and interesting people.

So why did 85% {and I made Mr. St. Clare do the math} of those who bothered to show up to, ya know, MEET PEOPLE sat on their phones playing word games and other types of amusements. { I was really bored so I paid attention to this} If you set out to meet people, how to you expect to interact with others while your phone is in your hand and your mind is on the game? One guy kept flipping pictures of a baby.

I realize I'm a bit older than most of you and maybe I am waayyyy behind the times, but when 'm with someone, my phone is turned off and at the bottom of my bag. I would think especially if your purpose is to meet others it seemed kind of rude to be so electronically fixated. Personally, if a person can't look me in the eye when we talk, my opinion of them generally drops.

I'm really tired and this might be just a ramble.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Hmm . . . I wonder if it was a meetup.com group dedicated to playing some kind of phone game? If you aren't familiar, meetup.com lists all sort of different interest groups in your area, where people can join and then groups "meet up" somewhere, like to go hiking, play chess, or whatever the group is set up for. I would have to guess that the sign was for a meetup group, but the phone usage is a bit perplexing, because most people do join meetup to, well, meet people!!

 

[LaraOnline]

Well I agree! I am welded to my phone (typing this on my phone lol) but in company why would you?

Eta: oh I see now it's possible for people to go out in public to play on their phone together lol. That figures.

 

[ksinger]

Annnnnnnnnd........art imitates life with the new movie "Her". Because real flesh and blood humans have needs, and bad breath, and annoying tics, and bodily fluids and ewwwwww. So let's have a relationship with my....device.

Or as one recent article notes, "Where alcohol replaced trusting relationships as a coping mechanism for teenagers who grew up to be alcoholics, so too are the positive affirmations we get from social media and the virtual relationships we maintain replacing real trusting relationships as coping mechanisms."

 

[ChristineRose]

Yeah, it was a Meet up. The people at the table had some shared interest. Whatever they were talking about was facilitated by phones and the Internet. Kind of hard to speculate, but there's an easy way to get the answer. Go to Meetup.com and look for groups in your area and find the one that met in your bar.

 

[rubybeth]

Yeah, I agree with the others, totally sounds like a scheduled meetup for people who have something in common on the internet/via mobile devices. It may seem odd, but imagine being a non-diamond enthusiast watching a meetup of PSers, looking at jewelry and diamonds. I'm guessing lots of people would roll their eyes at us.