Ok, at risk at sounding like a boomer, let me preface by mentioning a couple of things: I am in my mid 30's, and I have always hated cell phones. I hated them when they first came out, I hate them now, and I will always hate them into the future. I hate the expectation that I should be available all of the time, and I haven't owned one for about a decade.
With that out of the way ...
I was at a (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner last night. My friend had prepared a very nice dinner for all of us, and a few people brought their own offerings. They were all from a political group that is active on a local campus, so a couple of the people that attended were pretty young.
They spent about half the night staring into their cell phones, at the dinner table where our host had spent hours preparing a nice meal for all of us.
Is this considered "normal" now? I was always under the impression that cell phones should not be used at the dinner table, let alone at a fucking Thanksgiving meal. This is not behaviour that I would allow from my child let alone a fully grown adult.
Am I just old now, and is this now acceptable? Am I just being an old curmudgeon?
the parties i go to dont have anyone in their early 20s, and i dont see that happen as much with people in their mid-30s. but i have nieces who are like 6 years old and theyve been holding an ipad for years already.
it used to be that everyone had to leave the house because the house was boring and TV had 4 channels. now there are so many ways to "entertain" ourselves we don't have to leave the house.
if someone was literally on their phone all night, id call them out. but also, our monkey brains love those screens. you probably just had bad luck and got some socially anxious people who managed to drag themselves out. engage them in conversation somehow.
I did actually call them out for it lol. I was too drunk to remember what their reaction was but I think they either ignored me (because whatever was on their stupid screens was of course more important than their immediate surroundings) or just rolled their eyes.
then try the second option, engage them in conversation. if that fails, pretend they are furniture(cause they are at that point)