Our (cell) phones are ruining relationships

[Karl_K]

Many families are starting to do cell phone baskets.
During meals and family time the phones go on silent and in the basket and can not be touched during that time.

 

[Karl_K]

Meeting face to face is incredibly stressful for me. I prefer communicating over the Net.

I am the same way.

 

[Gussie]

Many families are starting to do cell phone baskets.
During meals and family time the phones go on silent and in the basket and can not be touched during that time.

We have this. NO PHONES ALLOWED AT MY TABLE! Or in restaurants. I make the kids leave them in the car at restaurants. As busy as it is, we sit down to dinner 5 out of 7 nights a week and that may be all the time we are all together that day. I'll be damned if a ringtone is going to ruin it.

Lol, I am very old school about dinnertime!

 

[Karl_K]

We have this. NO PHONES ALLOWED AT MY TABLE! Or in restaurants. I make the kids leave them in the car at restaurants. As busy as it is, we sit down to dinner 5 out of 7 nights a week and that may be all the time we are all together that day. I'll be damned if a ringtone is going to ruin it.

Lol, I am very old school about dinnertime!

Bravo!!!!!
It is really annoying sitting down at a nice restaurant and be surrounded by ringing phones and people talking on their phones.

 

[Bron357]

I too am very annoyed by people who walk along with their eyes glued to their phones. Apart from walking into people, the number of pedestrians being “hit by cars” has increased dramatically due to people not watching where they were going. Here in Australia using mobile phones while driving is illegal (big fine) as such inattention has been linked to multiple car accidents / deaths.
I was in my car, stopped and parked legally on the side of the road waiting for my daughter. I watched as a young women not only walked across the busy road not looking anywhere else except her phone and she kept walking and walked “smack bang” into my car. The look on her face as if it was my fault!

 

[AprilBaby]

I come from the landline generation. Here is no one that needs to reach me so badly that I have to get it immediately. I’m trying to live like I still have a landline. Leave me a msg and I will eventually call you back. I try to leave my phone at home if I’m going to dinner. Nothing annoys me more than a phone on silent but it has to be answered anyway and it’s a stupid “ hi I just want to talk” call. Other people do this to me and then I just sit there while they discuss what they are doing the rest of the day.

 

[Ellen]

I come from the landline generation. Here is no one that needs to reach me so badly that I have to get it immediately. I’m trying to live like I still have a landline. Leave me a msg and I will eventually call you back. I try to leave my phone at home if I’m going to dinner. Nothing annoys me more than a phone on silent but it has to be answered anyway and it’s a stupid “ hi I just want to talk” call. Other people do this to me and then I just sit there while they discuss what they are doing the rest of the day.

Rude.

Love the phone basket idea!!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I put my car into a still stop because I saw a man in the middle of my driving path in a car park, glued to his phone. He got the shock of his life when he smacked into my car which he then realised was stationary. Seriously some people!

I pack my phone away when I am with my kid. That's my personal rule. He gets very limited screen time and I like to practise what I preach (hehe and wait until he's in bed or not being taken care of by me).

I do however find phones useful in a group situation where one obnoxious person tries to tell their VERY long, convoluted story that I (and everyone else) have heard before in excruciating detail. In that situation it's either talk over them (this person is very obnoxious) or for a change I whip out my phone and make a point of texting everyone I know and posting on every forum to show how bored I am!

 

[OoohShiny]

I too am very annoyed by people who walk along with their eyes glued to their phones. Apart from walking into people, the number of pedestrians being “hit by cars” has increased dramatically due to people not watching where they were going. Here in Australia using mobile phones while driving is illegal (big fine) as such inattention has been linked to multiple car accidents / deaths.
I was in my car, stopped and parked legally on the side of the road waiting for my daughter. I watched as a young women not only walked across the busy road not looking anywhere else except her phone and she kept walking and walked “smack bang” into my car. The look on her face as if it was my fault!

In several countries in Europe they have a 'strict liability' law - this means that you, the car driver, are assumed to be responsible and at fault for any accidents with cyclists (and maybe pedestrians? I'm not sure), unless you can prove otherwise.

IMO that is frankly ridiculous and just encourages Blame Culture, over-reliance on in-car video recording/surveillance 'just in case', a 'them and us' attitude on both sides, and irresponsibility/lack of care by those not in cars, who should be actively managing their own behaviour and risk, not relying on others to get out of their way or take the entire blame when the pedestrian/cyclist has played a part in a sequence of events that has unfolded!

There seems to be increasing numbers of accidents/injuries in 20mph zones over here in the UK - whether that's because they are sweeping the nation like a plague of unwanted pestilence (therefore increasing coverage and likelihood of being within one) or because people assume they can just stroll into the road without looking, is still to be determined...

 

[AprilBaby]

Even with a hone basket I see my friends needing to get “ just that one call”. Put it where it can’t be seen or heard.not even the silent buzzing.