Page 6 | Woman taking her phone for a walk this morning

GuyMontag · 01/08/2022 22:57

Log it with 101.

CliffordDanger · 01/08/2022 23:11

GuyMontag · 01/08/2022 22:57

Log it with 101.

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 01/08/2022 23:17

I went for YABU, because for all you know this may not have been her dog. My neighbour's dog walker comes to walk him twice a day, and just gets her phone out and walks around the area for an hour with her phone in her hand half the time. Doesn't interact with him much.

Also, she (the woman you saw) may have a very busy home/family life, and play and interact with her dog at home, and this is a half hour chill period.

You can't judge someone and what they are doing without knowing them.

bluegreygreen · 01/08/2022 23:44

Get incandescent with rage and have been known to chase people who don’t pick up their dogs mess

Quite.

Walking at that time in the morning if I'd been on the phone it would likely have been work emails (not today - I was long in work by then)

SleepingStandingUp · 01/08/2022 23:56

She is bu for not paying attention to her dog possibly getting eaten or run over and fouling all over the place

Yabu to not just cross over, ask her to let you past and speed up, etc

supersonicspider · 02/08/2022 01:02

Maybe she was working.

Angelinflipflops · 02/08/2022 01:14

The phone zombie dog walkers are probably responsible for most of the poo. Cheeky fuckers

Original poster

SmellyToilet · 02/08/2022 06:59

For the person who said she was probably on mumsnet posting about the censored following her (before it was deleted!) …. I can just imagine that post:

AIBU? I was walking my dog this morning and I don’t have a fucking clue what happened during the walk as I had my face buried in my phone the whole time but apparently I nearly walked into someone, my dog was annoying the Walker behind me and I didn’t pick up my dog’s shit … well how the hell was I meant to know?? I wasn’t paying attention to anything else as I was incredibly busy on my phone! AIBU to think this person behind me should have kept an eye on my dog and alerted me to its shitting? 😂

OP posts:

Vikinga · 02/08/2022 07:24

I can't walk and look at my phone! I do listen to audiobooks or call a friend always though. I watch my dog and every now and then he comes for a quick pet but mostly he's busy sniffing and following trails and doesn't need interaction.

berksandbeyond · 02/08/2022 07:24

You're only seeing a snap shot of their life though.
I'm sure if someone saw me with my daughter on the bus yesterday they'd have thought me a horrible mother ignoring her child to look at her phone, but actually my husband was at a medical appointment and I was waiting for news.
It's easy to judge people but you really have no idea what is going on in their lives.

Suzi888 · 02/08/2022 07:28

I’ll tell you what’s possibly worse, when someone on their phone walks in to you because they are snout deep in their bastard phone. I wish I’d they’d fall over and break something.

BalloonsAndWhistles · 02/08/2022 07:33

I’ve told people when their do has pooped and they’ve tried to leave it. Why wouldn’t you? It’s not my responsibility to pick it up and why would I want to run the risk of stepping in it?

SomePosters · 02/08/2022 07:44

FOJN · 01/08/2022 10:55

Be kind is just a way of telling other people you will do as you please and you will judge anyone who dares to suggest you may need to consider others.

If you're taking a break from interacting with your child do you just let them do what they want? If they were hit by a car or approached by a stranger would you defend yourself by saying you just wanted some time out from the relentless demands on your attention? Of course you wouldn't. Taking a break from interaction does not mean relinquishing all responsibility and not observing where your child is or what they are doing.

Phones have alerts to let you know if there is a call or a message, looking at your phone won't make that happen any quicker and still does not absolve you of responsibility. Urgent messages and bad news happened before the advent of mobile phones and people seemed to manage then without 24 hour connectivity. There is probably a good argument to be made for people being less stressed before the tyranny of the mobile phone.

If someone is walking a dog they have a responsibility to know where the dog is and what it is doing particularly if you are walking your dog on a trip hazard lead or it is shitting somewhere someone might walk in it.

People can make all the excuses they want for irresponsible behaviour because some people choose to live there live through a mobile device which means their attention is often in a different place to their body but most of them are bullshit. There is almost nothing which cannot wait for you to stop and deal with it in a place and manner which does not inconvenience or endanger others.

Show quote history

Other peoples lives don’t revolve around your convenience.

Your bloody pressure will go down a lot if you stop with this unrealistic expectation
that everyone else’s lives can be put on hold retratadles of any life crises they might be navigating to suit your convenience

imnotthatkindofmum · 02/08/2022 07:47

SmellyToilet · 01/08/2022 09:38

Just got back from walking the dog. At one point a woman emerged with her face buried in her phone … she also had a little dog on a retractable lead wandering around behind her. I was walking behind this woman for 20 minutes and I swear to god she never once looked up from her phone in all this time. She didn’t interact with nor even look at her dog once. The dog was more interested in us than her and as it was on a retractable lead it kept walking back towards us … this woman had literally no idea that her dog was bothering a fellow dog Walker (with a reactive dog). The dog had a shit, she didn’t notice. I honestly believe that if I’d gone to the dog, unclipped it’s lead and stole it she wouldn’t have even noticed until she got home.

What’s the point??!! AIBU to have been hoping she accidentally stood in a huge pile of horse shit so she actually started to pay attention to her surroundings?

I agree with you OP. There's a woman near me who does this round the estate. My daughter is extremely dog phobic (and it's a phobia not just a fear) most dog owners will stop their dogs walking right up to people when they're on leads, this woman just has no idea what her dog is doing and it is difficult, people get really annoyed that my daughter doesn't like it but she's not going to be able to "get over it" if she's constantly approached by dogs where their owners aren't even aware what they're doing. It's not their job to cure her phobia but they could at least have the decency uk be aware of someone who's not happy about their dog. Especially if it's on a lead! It's not about interacting but knowing that your dog is safe or behaving appropriately and of course picking up dog shit!

Of course people might be distracted at times but to actually be so distracted you don't realise what your dog is doing is not really acceptable.

When running I've had several incidents of this too. People don't seem to realise that if their dog runs in front of me on a lead I am going to fall over it! 🙄

Wheelz46 · 02/08/2022 08:32

If you need to make or answer a call while walking the dog then the dog should be kept on a short line so in that sense you are right to be annoyed.

However, YABU if you think people should not answer a call while walking the dog. I will answer a call while he is on a short line and I am in control of him. On one occasion, good job I did as it was my child's school and I needed to get there to pick him up due to being unwell!

CallOnMe · 02/08/2022 09:04

People should be aware of their surroundings but many people suffer from anxiety and use their phones as an excuse not to interact with people which could be the issue here considering she was so deep in her phone.

I have to be very aware of how much time I’m on my phone during a dog walk as that’s often the only time I have to check my emails and I find myself having a quick look and replying because they’re important work things and then realising I’ve spent 10 mins focusing on my phone and not my dog.

Original poster

SmellyToilet · 02/08/2022 09:53

Wheelz46 · 02/08/2022 08:32

If you need to make or answer a call while walking the dog then the dog should be kept on a short line so in that sense you are right to be annoyed.

However, YABU if you think people should not answer a call while walking the dog. I will answer a call while he is on a short line and I am in control of him. On one occasion, good job I did as it was my child's school and I needed to get there to pick him up due to being unwell!

That’s completely different to what is happening here though isn’t it?

OP posts:

Wheelz46 · 02/08/2022 10:05

@SmellyToilet I did state in my first paragraph that you YANBU for being annoyed in this particular circumstance as all dog walkers should have complete control of their dog.

However, I don't agree that someone should not answer their phone just because they are walking their dog, although they should still be in control and aware of their surroundings. There could be a number of reasons why someone is chatting for 20 minutes on their phone while walking their dog but again in your circumstance, YES, you have every reason to be annoyed and the dog walker was plain ignorant. I was just referring to answering and talking on your phone in general!

SarahSissions · 02/08/2022 10:14

Couldn’t you have taken a different route, turned off or over taken her?

ChronicOverthinkr · 02/08/2022 10:31

It takes zero effort to shout out “excuse me! Your dog has pooped there”

I can’t believe you’ve the energy to post about this online but were unwilling to do something so minor that would have had such a positive effect at the time. Some people just love to complain about others and so slow to offer help or compassion. I mean obviously the dog walker should have noticed herself, but this thread has highlighted many reasons she might have been looking at her phone. YABU.

ChronicOverthinkr · 02/08/2022 10:34

The two things can be true at once: she should have noticed the poop and you should have pointed it out to her when you realised she hadn’t. Saying she’s being unreasonable is probably true but you seem unwilling to realise you were too.

LindaEllen · 02/08/2022 10:34

LunaLemon · 01/08/2022 09:42

Thing is, you never know if someone is a phone addict or waiting for bad news or something.

Someone once snapped at me for walking along with my phone. I was waiting for news of someone who was in hospital.

You don't have to have your face buried in it, though. You make sure the sound is on and just have it with you.

Original poster

SmellyToilet · 02/08/2022 12:28

Wheelz46 · 02/08/2022 10:05

@SmellyToilet I did state in my first paragraph that you YANBU for being annoyed in this particular circumstance as all dog walkers should have complete control of their dog.

However, I don't agree that someone should not answer their phone just because they are walking their dog, although they should still be in control and aware of their surroundings. There could be a number of reasons why someone is chatting for 20 minutes on their phone while walking their dog but again in your circumstance, YES, you have every reason to be annoyed and the dog walker was plain ignorant. I was just referring to answering and talking on your phone in general!

I totally get that sometimes you need to answer a call - I’ve done that myself whilst walking the dog but as you said, the dog is beside me on a short lead at the time. This woman wasn’t talking on the phone though, she had the phone in her face was literally typing/scrolling whatever … she couldn’t even see where she was walking herself never mind the dog.

OP posts:

MumasaurusRex · 02/08/2022 18:10

This says more about your judgement of people doing this than anything else, why not just walk passed her and get on with your life?
why put it on mumsnet? Because you need that ego boost to be told you are not being unreasonable? Clearly nothing better to worry about than what someone else is doing.
yes people walking with their head in their phones is annoying but does it need a whole mumsnet post and do you really need that reassurance from the world that YOU are right and she is wrong?
jesus, grow up. You sound insufferable.

MumasaurusRex · 02/08/2022 18:10

*past