Why can’t people put their phones down at the gym?

[Icanseeasquirrel]

I’m quite new to gym stuff. Had a few weeks at an old school gym with a PT until I gained some confidence and now have joined a big chain gym.
first gym was very focussed. People just working out and getting on with it.
New place gets busy sometimes with people waiting for certain machines. I have a plan and work it around when the machines are free and do free weights in between.

But why the hell do people go to the gym and just sit and scroll? I was in the weights area today and there were six people in there including me. Five sitting on the machines and staring at phones. I get they they might need to sort their music or their training plan but they just sit and sit.

A woman sat down next to me on the rower. Just sat and scrolled for a few minutes then picked up the bar - and tried to row while holding and looking at her phone! Failed at this so did about five pulls then picked it up again. And repeat.

Pick up your heads people FFS. It’s fascinating as a social change. All the humans staring at little devices all the time.
Oh and rower women was scrolling TikTok videos before someone says she was working or something.

Go back to the old school one!! Old school gyms are the best. Everyone respects decent gym culture. No arseholes or instagrammer losers with phones.

What else is there to do between sets? I don’t want to look round and make other people feel stared at, and I certainly don’t want to catch myself in those huge floor to ceiling mirrors.
Head down, scrolling instagram it is.
I think a lot of people don’t understand what resting between sets is and see somebody who keeps stopping their exercise and start scrolling and get annoyed 🤣

Yes its music, on headphones that go over your ears. NOT smartphones. They do the opposite.

That’s exactly it!

Im allowed to say what works for me. I find mentally distracting myself works for me. Unless Im hogging equipment, which I dont, its none of OPs business.

I don't understand what you don't understand. Phone apps/social media are literally designed by the biggest wealthiest organisations in the world to capture as much of our attention as they possibly can. Good for you if you never get affected by this when taking a break of several minutes between sets. Well done, you're better than the rest of us.

It's the people who are "working from home", taking business calls while working out in the gym, that annoy me. I feel like shouting out "They are in the gym, they are in the gym, they are not at home" as loud as I can.

My gym has a picture of a mobile phone in a red circle with a line through it. That still doesn't stop them. It needs to be one warning, then 1 day's exclusion, then permanent exclusion.

Nothing wrong with looking at your phone between sets

The gym staff won't be empowered to do that. The only way there would ever be a chance of a gym chain enforcing reasonable standards would be if the penalty was venue closure for not doing so.

Go to the classes instead. No one is on their phone in them (well, mayve between tracks, but even that's very rare).

Totally agree with you OP.
I used to go to an " old school" gym and there is a massive difference compared to the local authority leisure centre gym I use now.
In the leisure centre gym, people hog the machines for ages. IMO if you need to rest more than a couple of minutes between sets you should really get off and let someone use it in-between. What you shouldn't be doing is a 2 or 3 reps then an email essay on your phone!
Similarly in a stretch area you shouldn't hog all the lighter weights, lining them up like a defensive wall round your mat even when you are not using them. And you should have to put them back tidily.
IMO there are too few staff walking around supervising and minimal interaction with the gym users.
Yesterday I someone lying on a bench, lifting heavy weights without a spotter. He was really struggling to put the bar back on the rack. So dangerous. But he wasn't challenged by any member of staff, even when I mentioned it. That certainly would have been challenged at my " old school" gym.

I don't see why it matters i agyn as people will have workout plans etc.. on phones. It's the parents scrolling when they should be interacting with their children that boil my piss. I say that as a person who ten years ago, could put my phone down at home and not think about it. Now; I subconsciously carry it everywhere. Why? Addiction to information for me. I'm not a huge social media user (too old) but I listen to the radio in it, work from it, organise on it, look up words and lea ones on it when a dictionary would have made do, I'm on loads of hobby groups, I do research on it. Tbh I'm old enough to remember typewriters and should know better, but I can't help it-my concentration is fucked, my eyes are strained. I wish there was a helpline as I'm too old to feel this way!

No phones signs generally mean no photos, not that you cant use your phone.

It's none of the above reasons for me. For most machines I use I do a certain number of reps then need to rest inbetween before a second and third set. That's the only time I look at my phone.

When I go to the gym I don't scroll but I do indulge in a bit of on the hoof DJing but that is only on cardio machines as I exercise. I have seen as you say people spending ages on a single weights machine scrolling tiktok between sets. It actually puts me off using the weights as they machines are always clogged up with young guys doing exactly that!

I hate this too.I mostly do classes and swimming and it's even beginning to creep in there. People on their phones in the few minutes at the beginning before the class starts, one even while the instructor was doing her intro / the register. It's a yoga class fgs, just turn it off for an hour!
I have started using the equipment a bit and have a little notebook to write down how many reps and what weight.