People in public places watching something on their phones at regular volume, no headphones. And not like a 30 second video, I’m talking full-length shows, movies, sports, etc
This seems to be happening more and more regularly and it’s definitely not just kids (personally I don’t like when parents give kids a phone or tablet to watch cartoons at the table either)
Feel free to add your random complaint of the day and hopefully we can all feel .00001% better heading into the weekend
People that have e-tickets on their phone, for the bus or the movies, that wait until they get up to the bus driver or counter to dig out their phone, turn it on, wait for the program to load and then hit the proper button. Time saving program, my ass.
Giving kids a tablet at the dinner table? Is that a thing now?
WTH? You’re at the table to eat and have conversation. I wouldn’t put up with a kid ignoring us for a tablet. No way! That isn’t happening in my household.
I feel the OP’s pain. Digital devices are ruining real social interaction.
I accidentally ignored a lady a couple days ago. I thought she was talking on her phone. She was asking me a question. D’Oh.
I have been burned several times responding to someone that was actually yakking on the phone. Makes me feel like a fool.
There’s a public school at the top of my street, every day just after three I see parents, often with a toddler in tow or in a stroller, headed to pick up the sibling. The parent is on their phone the whole time.
They come right back down the street a few minutes later, with an added 7yr old in tow now. And the child is all energy and chatter about their day’s goings on. Parent still on their phone. 100% oblivious to either child. Often times they have a dog along that they’re also totally ignoring.
I see the same parents, day after day, always glued to their devices. I look at the excited, but ignored child, and wonder what they must be taking away from this daily experience? What an age we’re living in!
Another point on the spectrum. Last night I stopped at the grocery store for a couple of items. I had earbuds in, listening to a podcast on my phone. I go through the self check-out, so there’s no need to ever stop listening.
Some total stranger nodded their head to me. I nodded back. Then she started talking (I saw her lips moving). So, I have to shut off the podcast, remove the earbuds, take my hearing aid container out of my pocket, turn the hearing aid on, stick it in my ear, wait for it to power up.
“Yes?”
“Watcha listening to?”
Seriously?
I have seen people walk right into walls looking at their phones. I can’t look at a device while walking. I can barely chew gum and walk. And to think, all those years studying ballet I’m still a klutz.
Why are you complaining-That’s free entertainment.
Haven’t been slowed by that too much thankfully, but e-tickets at Disney World are another story since they have to be scanned manually by an employee and it often takes awhile to scan, so they work slower on average than physical electronic tickets even if they already have their devices out.
Yeah, the whole walking while looking at the phone thing is a pain. Inevitably they slow down foot traffic. Which, in an airport when you are trying to run to your next gate, gets in the way big time.
There was a recent article about how in China they are putting in “walking while texting” lanes. I wish airports would do this too.
A couple times, where I work, folks in line are on the phone. When they are asked "what can I get for you?’ and don’t respond, the register clerk goes on to the next person, and the phone talkers get upset.
A few months ago I drove out of my quiet residential street and saw a young tradesman on the kerb looking intently at his phone. He also had ear-muffs on (noise blockers, not for music). So he didn’t see OR hear me approaching in my car as he walked onto the road. I slowed right down of course, and watched with much amusement as slammed his head bang-smack into a pile of timber atop one of the vehicles parked there.
It made my afternoon it did.
We do this to peeps in line at my concession stand ( volunteer). They get hostile when the look up and several people have passed them by. It’s their own fault. And I love to tell them that. 
Some of those people who walked into walls while looking at their phones were watching youtube videos of people walking into walls while looking at their phones.
More than 15 years ago when I worked at the grocery store, I saw that kind of thing too. WHO were they talking to, one wonders.
Nice!
I don’t care if kids are playing with a phone or tablet UNLESS they are walking around with it, paying no attention to where they’re going (something kids are notorious for to begin with)
Twice, I have told a parent that their kid had to stop playing for now, and both times, it was at the antique mall where I have a booth. :rolleyes: It goes into the :eek: factor because one of them was the owner’s son. I mean, the kid could knock over a display with thousands of dollars worth of dishes or other fragile items, and seriously injure themselves in the process. Neither liked hearing it, but they did seem to understand.
A lot of things annoy me about phones, but one of the things that annoys me most about them is when a cashier is on their phone. Rude enough when customers do it, but I find it as rude, if not ruder, when cashiers do it.
A non-phone annoyance of mine: when people brag about how much money they make.
I think it’s cute that we are still calling them phones. 85% of the time it’s being used for something else.
Heh, yep. Call my phone and you’ll get my voicemail which explains that I prefer textual communication. Then again, if you have my number you know that.
Since they are used visually rather than aurally, maybe we should call them “watches”?