I have a cellphone. I use it rarely. If people want to ‘chat’ to me they use my landline as do I when I want to converse with them.
I do realise that in many households now, landlines have become defunct, and especially young folk in share-houses use their mobiles for all communications. That’s cool I guess.
Yesterday I went to a social bbq. A bunch of people of all ages and demographics eating and drinking and dipping in the swimming pool. What disturbed me was the number of ‘young’ people (under 25) who were excluding themselves from the event by chatting away on their mobiles to people who were not there at the party.
Now this strikes me as the ULTIMATE IN FUCKING RUDENESS. It was not my bbq, in fact I was the partner of an invited guest. My philosophy is, if you are somewhere, you are THERE, and not cyber-communicating with others who are not there. Unless it’s a bloody emergency, don’t take the call.
Am I just being an old fogie or has there been a major downfall in social niceties in recent times?
I wonder, in situations such as you described, whether those chatting endlessly on their mobile phones would have been doing the same thing if they’d been at a BBQ with their fellow chatters ie ignoring them and chatting on the phone to others, for example the people they were avoiding talking to in person yesterday.
It’s got me totally flummoxed why it’s more important to talk on the phone to people you’re not with than to talk to people you are with.
For me, I feel weird without my mobile, but here’s what I’d do:
Set it to low volume, or vibrate or something. If the phone rings, then it’s:
(to you) “Sorry, won’t be a sec”.
“Hello. Yeah, I’m busy. Can I call you back later? Ta.”
This would work for me, because I get between zero and three calls a day, so the chance of my having to answer the phone at a party of a few hours, is not that high, and if I do, I’d not engage in a long conversation.
If I were receiving a higher number of calls, I’d turn the thing off, or use voicemail or summat.