To think things are a bit sad these days ?

[AntoniaMcMac]

I'm only in my 30s so maybe I'm being old before my time but everyone is glued to their fucking phone ! I was out with a mate the other week and she was either on her phone or checking messages on her watch. I get people are busy but come on. At work i try to discuss something with colleagues but they're all on their phones. Then they ask what's going on.
People's attention span seems shit and social skills even worse.

Yes. I just returned to work after being an SAHM & thought how wonderful to have people to chat to on breaks! They all got off their computers.... Onto their phones...

The saddest is young adults. My relative's 23 y/o sits in his room & games online with 'friends' every spare minute. He should be out interacting, having adventures, living life.... Ordering a takeaway to be delivered is about as exciting as it gets! He's not got any social issues, just stopped going out because of technology!

Agreed 💯 %. A couple of years ago I took my DD to a fancy seaside hotel for her 50th birthday, I hired a specific area covered in the garden (I won't say exactly what because it's outing) for afternoon tea. First she insists on going shopping for a dress to wear for the tea, I told her we had 5 minutes till the table was booked, she said plenty of time.. I walked out of the shop in the end, started walking by to the car. She's over 6ft tall,can catch me up easily. The whole meal she's on her phone, I mentioned it several times, I got, I won't be a minute or I'm just going to send this text.. I got to the stage, I was going to walk out and leave her. She would have been stuffed because she had come up by train,had no car. To cap it, she took a selfie posted on FB saying where she was on her birthday and no mention of me! yesterday we took the dogs out to a nearby park, football match young children, dads standing cheering, almost every single mother sitting down and on their phones.

I haven’t noticed this with my friends, none of them are that rude! I don’t think I notice what others are doing in restaurants as usually too caught up with friends as we don’t see each other as often as we do.

Most people I see on the tube are on their phones (including me!). I have the kindle app and I think it’s brilliant, I always have a book on me now!

Where I work all phones are banned! It's brilliant!

We have conversations and nobody is distracted whilst scrolling etc. it makes such a difference

Glad it's not just me. It makes you feel they'd rather be anywhere else when they're on the phone all the time.

My mum is so bad for this! Sometimes I go over to my parents’ house to watch some TV together. The other day we were watching Taskmaster and there was a funny bit so I looked over to catch my mum’s eye and laugh, and she was buried in her phone looking at Facebook. I did get a bit annoyed and said I’m not going to bother watching if that’s what you’re going to be doing. Felt like I was telling off my own mother who’s nearly 70.

I've experienced this too. Met up with friends (in their 70s) a few months ago. I hadn't seen them for ages. The husband was fine. We had a great conversation. He doesn't have a smartphone. But his wife was picking up the phone every 5 minutes or so during the meal to check if she had messages from anyone and responding to the messages, then wanting to share videos, memes and other crap which people had sent her. Sad really. I was so looking forward to catching up with her.
That's just one example but I find it happens all the time in different contexts and with different age groups.
I have also found that people don't go out as much. I think that is partly due to the pandemic, people got used to a new lifestyle and also partly due to phones and tech. You can watch anything you want from the comfort of your sofa, you can order in all kinds of meals, you can shop for anything you want online and you have social contact on line. You can communicate with hundreds of "friends" on facebook and instagram and on WhatsApp. You don't have to go out to meet people any more. It is sad really.

Out with friends it is rude but in an office on a lunchbreak then no it is not. I dont want to be talking to my colleagues on breaktimes so I will be on phone checking whatever I need to check.

I don't even think people are that busy, they're just so used to being distracted that being present is uncomfortable and it becomes a habit to constantly check things. I think it takes a great amount of mindfulness in todays world if you are a bit of an addict to allow yourself to be present and sit in the uncomfortable elements of socialisation when you always have 'better dopamine options'.

Yes fucks me off. Parents come round to see grandchildren just sit on their phones constantly. Sometimes I speak to one of them and they don't even hear me. I try really hard to stay off my phone when the kids are around and at the moment I'm with the kids pretty much 24/7. Go out people walk into me barely lifting their head from their handheld screen. Had to wait in shop to get in a lift whilst someone was checking their fucking Facebook standing there pressing the door open button in one hand checking Facebook with the other. Honestly people can just fuck off now. Kids strapped in pushchairs at the petting zoo with screens attached to the fucking pram instead of looking at the world around them. Makes me so angry the world we are living in.