1. You have no idea what any of your friend’s phone numbers are.
That’s one we’re all suffering from. There was a day not too long ago when people actually had to memorize phone numbers. It was actually expected of them to be able to do that and to retain these phone numbers in their heads in the same way we retain them in our phones today. Nobody knows for sure what our brains are doing with the new added space that’s been left behind now that we no longer have to memorize these strings of numbers. No one’s been reporting more vivid dreams, and there isn’t a sudden upsurge in patents for new and extraordinary inventions. It’s a secret.
2. The whole texting and driving thing was a huge sign!
Yeah, that was pretty big. Some signs come with an evolutionary weeding out of the bad seeds. It’s sad when that happens. It sometimes takes a few innocents that happened to be crossing the path at the wrong time. But it happens. No one would have ever considered reading the newspaper and driving. That whole texting and driving thing was just weird. Don’t do things like that. If your phone rings, vibrates, or buzzes while you’re in the car, act like you’re not home, because you’re not.
3. If you can’t put the phone down to go out to eat.
How many times have you seen people sitting at the same table in a restaurant totally ignoring each other while they text or talk on the phone? It’s a little strange. Your smart phone should not be used as a social pacifier. And even worse are the children coming in to the restaurant totally engrossed in their devices, blind to where they are going, oblivious to any interaction going on at the table, and throwing fits when they have to put it down. Oh, yes, people, this stuff is making you dumb.
4. Visiting with friends – and texting.
Right, make up your minds. Do you want to visit? Do you want to text? Are you texting someone about your visit? This is like whispering to the person next to you in front of the other person or people in the room. True, there are situations that call for a response. But shouldn’t this be the exception? And when you are faced with the exception, wouldn’t it be appropriate to apologize and quickly explain the situation to both parties on both ends, and then either resume the visit or leave because the situation is not going to be immediately resolved? Quit being rude, okay?
5. You are in the middle of a conversation and you flip out your phone to scroll.
Really, is your attention span so limited that you can no longer carry on a conversation without interrupting it with your phone? Is what’s going on so incredibly boring to you that you must save your sanity via funny posts on social sites during mid-sentence of somebody else’s conversation? And, yes, add to the social injury by laughing at the posts while the person you are with is awkwardly trying to finish what they were saying before being so rudely interrupted by you wanting to brandish your lack of social civility.
Yes, smart phones are making people incredibly dumb. Hopefully they eventually look up long enough to see all the damage they are leaving behind. But with all new directions the world goes in, it takes time before etiquette becomes widely embraced. We tend to need to see what the problems are before we can fix them. May we get there soon.
