Society & Culture Things in life you just don't understand - Part 5

[phantom13]

My mum is the worst, our parents grumbled when computers were starting out that we spent too much time on them but try to disconnect a Boomer from their devices these days at your own peril.

When the MIL comes over to visit her grandkids you actually cant leave her alone in the room with them, youll come back out and shell be on her phone in another world with the 6 month old about to crawl in the oven.

She also cant ignore a notification, ive told her off for answering her phone at the dinner table before (and yes with caller ID it was very very evident it was not an emergency).

I also think boomers are incapable of split screening or having any awareness whilst on their phones, i can be scrolling but if someone speaks to me or my kids are doing something i am aware of it, boomers seem to enter another universe and have zero awareness outside of their screen.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I find it super hard to ignore notifications too. It's a big problem.

 

[MatthewB]

I'll have notifications sit there for days before i clear or look at

 

[burge13]

My parents aren't that bad but when they're on phones, they are completely unaware of what's around them.

I have mates I go out with way less than I used to though because we go to the pub and they're looking at ****ing IG, FB, or whatever the whole time. No use going

I've never had FB, IG, snap, or any of that shite. Absolute brain rot but it's at a point where there's little point not being addicted to it, when literally everyone else around you is, you're the one in your own world...

Drives me up the wall like nothing else when you're out on the beers and people film whatever is going on. A mate pulls a bird, winning an 8 ball game, anything and everything is filmed & posted. It drives me ****ing wild - talking blokes in their mid 30's here too but everyone does it. I'm the weird one by not being a ****ing weirdo filming shit

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I find it super hard to ignore notifications too. It's a big problem.

That's why they're so dangerous in cars, people can't resist looking at them. Even if the phone is in a holder, you have to take your eyes off the road to look at them, and one hand off the wheel to press the buttons.

I think I've mentioned we had a friend to dinner, visiting from interstate, and he kept checking his phone throughout the meal - "I have to be contactable" (some low-importance position on a committee), and "I'm expecting to hear from my daughter" (he'd seen her the day before).

Even me saying quite sharply, "No phones at the table" had no effect

We are all similar age, btw, but I don't think I'm like that at all.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

That's why they're so dangerous in cars, people can't resist looking at them. Even if the phone is in a holder, you have to take your eyes off the road to look at them, and one hand off the wheel to press the buttons.

I think I've mentioned we had a friend to dinner, visiting from interstate, and he kept checking his phone throughout the meal - "I have to be contactable" (some low-importance position on a committee), and "I'm expecting to hear from my daughter" (he'd seen her the day before).

Even me saying quite sharply, "No phones at the table" had no effect

We are all similar age, btw, but I don't think I'm like that at all.

I've turned off previews so in the car all I see is that I have a notification on instagram, for example. I can't actually read them, which is a good thing.

In social settings I'm much better than when I'm sitting at home. I wouldn't be checking my phone at the dinner table when out with friends, but I am checking in while I'm cooking.

 

[burge13]

Dont notifications on social media just annoy you?! I have notifications turned off on most apps as I don't want it vibrating constantly

Who cares if someone comments on your picture. I really don't understand social media I guess haha. Are people this fragile they have a constant need to know what others think? No wonder Mental Health problems have exploded the last decade

 

[phantom13]

Dont notifications on social media just annoy you?! I have notifications turned off on most apps as I don't want it vibrating constantly

Who cares if someone comments on your picture. I really don't understand social media I guess haha. Are people this fragile they have a constant need to know what others think? No wonder Mental Health problems have exploded the last decade

Yeh ive got notifications off for pretty much everything.

If something is super urgent my wife calls, then i know its urgent cause she never does.

Im as addicted to my phone as the next person and will doom scroll and kill time on the train etc but i can still be present in a room while doing that, i also go phone face down if im catching up with friends, family.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

Dont notifications on social media just annoy you?! I have notifications turned off on most apps as I don't want it vibrating constantly

Who cares if someone comments on your picture. I really don't understand social media I guess haha. Are people this fragile they have a constant need to know what others think? No wonder Mental Health problems have exploded the last decade

I don't care what other people think, it's not about whether someone comments on my picture. The DMs are the same as text messages to me. Ding - I wanna read it.

 

[Frank Bunn]

This report recommended signage on the footpaths in Melbourne to try to stop people who were glued to the their phones walking into traffic.

https://www.monash.edu/muarc/news-and-events/articles/new-report-shows-extent-of-pedestrian-distraction-and-smartphone-use-on-melbourne-streets

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Dont notifications on social media just annoy you?! I have notifications turned off on most apps as I don't want it vibrating constantly

Who cares if someone comments on your picture. I really don't understand social media I guess haha. Are people this fragile they have a constant need to know what others think? No wonder Mental Health problems have exploded the last decade

Me too. I also have my phone on silent most of the time (until that backfires and I miss a call I'd have taken ).

That is also 100% correct about social media. Mental health issues, anxiety and depression, have increased 50% since 2012, apparently, when smart phones became ubiquitous. The community is gradually becoming aware of this but what to do?

American psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote a great piece in the newspaper a couple of months ago

https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=c0e7b8f1-61ed-405c-9adf-95e2d8f61ed2&share=true

 

[Off The Couch]

Yeh ive got notifications off for pretty much everything.

If something is super urgent my wife calls, then i know its urgent cause she never does.

Im as addicted to my phone as the next person and will doom scroll and kill time on the train etc but i can still be present in a room while doing that, i also go phone face down if im catching up with friends, family.

Big deal, you might as well have it facing up. You are still sending the same message

Thanks for the heads up on “all boomers” - must remember that the next time I’m babysitting

 

[burge13]

Big deal, you might as well have it facing up. You are still sending the same message

Thanks for the heads up on “all boomers” - must remember that the next time I’m babysitting

Weird part of the conversation to object to out of everything said

 

[phantom13]

Big deal, you might as well have it facing up. You are still sending the same message

Thanks for the heads up on “all boomers” - must remember that the next time I’m babysitting

I disagree, modern etiquette stuff like "hats off at the table" doesnt apply. My phone is uncomfortable in my pocket, having it on the table face down is the modern polite way of doing business. Face down means i dont see the notifications so im not having my eyes wander when something comes through.

Dont think i actually said "all boomers" i generalised the boomer generation and im pretty happy to stand by the generalization, doesnt mean all of you do but its alot in my experience. Also pretty typical boomer behaviour to be outraged by boomer generalizations so well done i suppose.

 

[Gralin]

lets not go down the boomers vs millennials shit fight again

my parents and my partners parents aren't glued to their phones

two of them barely touch social media and two of them are on it a fair bit from their computers

so what we're on social media right now arguing about social media lol

 

[phantom13]

lets not go down the boomers vs millennials shit fight again

my parents and my partners parents aren't glued to their phones

two of them barely touch social media and two of them are on it a fair bit from their computers

so what we're on social media right now arguing about social media lol

Boomers getting mad about Boomer stuff is like half their online lives, dont take it away from them

 

[Gralin]

Boomers getting mad about Boomer stuff is like half their online lives, dont take it away from them

everyone gets mad online and argues about stuff

people get bored and try and start fights online too for their own entertainment

phone use is an issue that impacts everyone to some degree and its got nothing to do with which year you were born

 

[peternorth]

People who drink coffee for the caffeine - there are cheaper ways to get your caffeine fix

They read it for the articles

 

[phantom13]

everyone gets mad online and argues about stuff

people get bored and try and start fights online too for their own entertainment

phone use is an issue that impacts everyone to some degree and its got nothing to do with which year you were born

I mean my anecdotal example and experience was quite specific to the fact that its worse in people born within that generation.

Even the cranky response i got noted that some fairly widely accepted etiquette on phones down on tables probably demonstrated that theres a generational divide.

Anyway, no boomer bashing, got it.

 

[rocker_oz33]

My mother in laws phone obsession is absolutely cooked, she’s attached to the thing 24/7, will just mindlessly be scrolling Facebook and shit pretty much all the time.

I reckon the boomer generation has the worst phone addictions of anyone.

Early 20s seem pretty bad with always on their phone .

 

[rocker_oz33]

Re phones .

It's the way the world is going everything on them.
Bank cards , tickets to footy, gigs etc, Myki,you can put your gift cards on them.

I do like the wallet in the phones to put footy tix and gig tickets etc.
One less thing to carry around.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

It does bother me that so many restaurants and bars have QR code ordering these days. I'm trying to STOP using my phone at the table you silly duffers! Don't make me read a teeny tiny menu on it.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I apparently commit the cardinal sin of not having my phone constantly on my person. It gets left on the bed, or in my jacket pocket when I hang it up, or in another room on silent so I don't hear it ring or ping . My son then has to resort to the landline (which we still have for some reason...)

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

My phone lives on silent. I showed a boomer colleague how to put his phone on silent and he's like holy shit you've changed my life.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I disagree, modern etiquette stuff like "hats off at the table" doesnt apply. My phone is uncomfortable in my pocket, having it on the table face down is the modern polite way of doing business. Face down means i dont see the notifications so im not having my eyes wander when something comes through.

Dont think i actually said "all boomers" i generalised the boomer generation and im pretty happy to stand by the generalization, doesnt mean all of you do but its alot in my experience. Also pretty typical boomer behaviour to be outraged by boomer generalizations so well done i suppose.

Ps I totally agree that phone face down on the table is common courtesy amongst my friends and family. I don't take a handbag anywhere and women's clothes notoriously rarely have pockets so where else am I gonna put it? Everyone's phones are face down and largely ignored.