Have people under the age of 25 forgotten how to put a phone to their ear?

[ImEasyLikeSundayMorning]

Lighthearted before there's a hissy fit from a 24.6 year old.

Im forever seeing people outside talking to someone on loud speaker.
They will talk into the bottom bit, then move it to their ear to hear the response and back to their mouth then quickly back to their ear as nauseam.

Why have people stopped putting their phone to their ear in the normal, intended fashion?

Im old, aren't I?

(my teenagers do this too. I ask them. They don't know)

24.6😆

I started doing it quite a long time and I’m not young. I think it’s to do with the phone being a bit of a gross, smeary, infected object that I don’t want pressed onto my face. There’s also some makeup that lifts onto the phone.

I see most young people talking into the end of the phone, held horizontally.

For the most part I only see older people holding their phone like this.

Must add, I don’t tend to do it in public or walk around on a permanent video call.

I always tell people to phone me back when they are somewhere quiet anyway, I hate trying to converse with people with a load of background noise, I struggle to hear on mobiles anyway

If I am somewhere busy I use ear. But everywhere else it speaker. It’s not good for the body to be holding phones like that. Holding to mouth is slightly better as atleast it’s centred. Holding to ear. Ouch

Surely this ^ and the smear of foundation/make-up that you get on a phone if you put it to your cheek and ear?

They totally are. I wipe mine all the time.

Irritates me to OP. Particularly when they are intending to share their "oh so cool" conversation with everyone that's incidentally having to share the same small space as them.

Quite simple, you don't have to hold ur phone up, more comfortable.

I do this at home, I find it more comfortable. Outside I use headphones

I'm quite old and I take calls on the loud speaker too. I like it better. Not in public though...

I use headphones - no need to hold phone at all. I’m 46!

My partner started going deaf in his right ear, only in his early 30s, Dr said could be to do with his phone as he uses it a lot on that side, so we both now use our phones hands free for this reason.
Handy tip if you're a women and at home, a bra strap makes a great phone holder 😌

This drives me mad too. Why broadcast your entire conversation? If I was on the phone with someone and I knew my side of the conversation was being broadcast to the whole of Aldi I’d be really annoyed. How difficult is it to hold it up a few more centimetres, have some privacy and not annoy everyone around you!

This. It's so selfish to be bellowing into your phone, holding it in front of your face and not to your ear. No one else wants to hear your inane conversation.

I'm well over 25 and do this! Holding the phone up to my ear is uncomfortable, my arm aches after a while, my ear gets hot, my earring studs press on the back of my ear and make up gets onto my phone. Also I like to see the screen, either for video calls or if pictures are shared during the call, and to keep an eye on the time, battery etc. I think modern phones aren't really built to be held to the ear.

What? Did you read my OP?

But totally anti social to everyone around you, and do you even bother to tell the person you are talking to the conversation is not private?

This. I wok in hospitality and 80% of people approach the till with their phone to their ear and I have to sit patiently and wait to be addressed.

work ! not wok

Doing this, then holing the bottom of it to your ear - as I described in my OP, is very much "holding your phone up"

And if you do it, please don't do it in public.

We aren't interested in your conversation.

I saw an explanation of this somewhere which I thought was hilarious.

People on tv shows put the phone on speaker so that the sound guy can pick up both sides of the conversation for the show. Teenagers see tv stars doing it and think it's cool, presumably not realising it's done for a purely practical reason. Fucking brilliant 😂

Hold my hands up, I read your title and some replies and thought we were speaking about loud speaker, putting it down on the table on the train etc . I think people who do what you described think they look important, probably.