adults texting during party?

[Janie Grace]

I think it's really rude. I recently stopped by the house of someone going through a very hard time. She was constantly texting another friend throughout our conversation. I tried to extend grace because of her emotional state, but I admit I felt a bit annoyed... like, why am I wasting my time sitting here when you are spending half the time "conversing" with someone else?

[Stacia]

I hate that kind of behavior where people put their texts, FB, gaming, or whatever above the 'face time' w/ friends or family. I especially hate it when people text in movies because it lights up like a beacon. I want to lean over the backs of their chairs & read their texts, make comments, and generally be obnoxious about it. (I haven't done that yet, but I may one day....)

 

I despise phones in general though. I have a smart phone. People who do call or text me rarely expect me to answer immediately (if ever, lol) -- same even goes for my home phone. If I'm out, my family usually knows where I am, so even if they couldn't get me on my phone (which I would probably be completely ignoring, not hear because I have it on vibrate 99% of the time, or have turned off), they could figure out another way to get in touch w/ me (maybe through an annoying person I might be with who would always be checking his/her phone :tongue_smilie: ). In reality, most things are not true emergencies &, imo, do not take precedence over me being in the present w/ whoever I'm with (even if I'm alone). This 'need' (haha -- more like addiction) for constant communication through electronics to the detriment of the real world in front of your face is a newly-created 'need' -- just a way for media companies to sell more minutes, data plans, etc.... I'm amazed at how many suckers have fallen hook, link, and sinker for the false belief that they need to be 'in the know' immediately & constantly, while in reality they're trampling their real-life relationships & ignoring the world around them. Most of human history has managed to survive & move forward w/out immediate FB updates or constant (usually unimportant) phone calls from kids, spouses, relatives, salespeople, etc.... Unhook from the marketing machine & remember real life.

 

:rant: Grr. Can you tell this is one of my pet peeves? :rant:

[Julie in CA]

Yeah, Mass is more important than any dinner party or any emergency or any conversation I could have.

Sunday worship is more important than any dinner party, or any conversation. Perhaps it's the age of my dc. We are no longer always in worship together. In my world, spirituality is not really limited to that 1-2 hours on Sunday, andI am blessed to be able to worship freely any day. Responding to a text that your teen has been in an accident though? Definitely worth interrupting my worship. I just mean that while I place a huge value on uninterrupted worship, that 5 seconds that it takes me to receive an emergency notification is worth the interruption. As always though, I understand that people have different perspectives on that. :)

[Tammyla]

Rude, rude, rude. I'd be tempted to pull out a book and read or tell them I'll catch them later when they're free to focus.

 

Oh, and I don't think it's rude to quickly take family calls or work things, but they should be short and sweet.

[Stacia]

I think part of the problem is that originally, when cellphones were still fairly new, people didn't get many interruptions/calls on them, so them checking to see if it was 'important' (family/work) was fairly rare. These days, people have their phones ringing, buzzing, tweeting, etc... incessantly. If they're going to 'check' to see if it is 'important', that still means they are constantly looking at their phones, often dozens or more times in a day. I think that constant interruption of 'oops, my phone made a noise, I must immediately look' is rude, even if they don't follow-up because it is a non-important thing. Kwim?

 

(I know many don't mind interruptions of emergencies or really important stuff, but I think for people to ascertain if incoming info is actually important, they are still being incredibly rude multiple times in an outing while they sort information. And, I'd guess that about 99.5% of the info they get is something that could wait.)