If I see another YouTube video of giggling
babies or sad dogs while I want to savor and compliment the cook or receive
compliments of a yummy meal, I will have a fit! I don’t need to see the recipe
for apple pie with a strudel topping while I am eating a piece of apple pie
with strudel topping! The holiday foods are looked forward to all year and I
will be damn if it is ruined again by some smart assed know it all smart phone!
Family get to-gethers have revealed
to me that an extra “being” is present at the dining table. Discussions and
conversations are halted while someone Goggles a fact. Is it me or do others
find this uninvited guest, a know it all and annoying presence?
What about personal beliefs and
thoughts shared? I support curiosity but does it have to be immediate? Does the
smart phone or computer at the table keep the conversation more superficial?
The smart phone or computer/tablet
at the table makes checking the user’s Facebook or twitter accounts or email
very easy. How many people just check and don’t respond? Can you enforce no
electronics at the table? Does it start out that way only to be dashed when the
innocent act of looking up a fact escalates to another being at the table and
the user is pulled into their online world? What about using the phone to take
pictures and then immediately sent to Facebook?
So without having fits, how do you
handle this breach in etiquette? Do you just set an extra place setting? Do you
enforce the no electronics rule? I love
technology, but am I griping like the little old lady I am turning into?
4 comments:
Dinner is family time. Period. That means no TV, no magazines, no newspapers and yes, no phones. In our busy world full of distractions it is easy to lose sight of the value of our relationships. Your phone is not a family member.
Thanks Nicole, well put!
It is sooo hard! We do not have phone or devices at dinner and desperately try to be good role models for the kids.....but it is tempting!
This is going to be an ongoing debate over the years to come, but I know that I need my family time.
You are right Rachel it is difficult especially when it is every night. I think if you break it down to one hour media free it becomes an easier goal to meet!
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