An Age of Ignorant Disrespect

It is at a Christmas part for my building that I find and engage in conversation with the man who designed the interior of my condominium. As I attempt to make friendly conversation with him it is evident that he is slightly distracted. While we speak I see his eyes ever so often flick down to his phone which is sitting out, face up, on the coffee table right next to him, occasionally blinking with a new notification.

The inappropriate and disrespectful usage of cell phones and technology in public can no longer be applied to simply the youth. It is a discourteous habit that nearly every person with a cell phone or an iPod or an iPad is guilty of doing.

This impudent behavior is happening everywhere and always occurring. With the incoming buzz in one’s pocket from any notification, it is seen as a great struggle to not at least look down and check, just ever so quickly, to see what exactly it was. I see examples of this all over every day. I have seen people checking their phone while a waiter is attempting to take their order. I have seen people shush another person they are in the midst of a conversation with to pull out their phone. I have seen two people who are on a date but both are typing and scrolling away, completely immersed in their cell phones instead of each other. As we engage in this habit we begin to lose touch with how to hold a steady and substantial conversation with both those we know and strangers. The fact that it is all around us only enforces the behavior because it almost feels like we are getting permission to engage in it. Whether at a social gathering with people you may not know or in a one on one situation with someone you know, being fully immersed in the environment around you is far more important and rewarding than being tapped into the social media.

I myself should be no spokesperson for this cause to end the disgracious custom of constant usage of ones cell phone, because I am aware that I have unfortunately taken part in this act as well. As difficult as it is to admit that I have looked at my cell phone or sent a quick text message while at a gathering of a large group or on a one on one gathering with a friend, I believe that the first step to recovery is admittance. For this reason I have not mentioned the impolite behavior to someone who is partaking in it for the fear of coming across slightly hypocritical. Although while pondering this idea, I did think of one example in which I attempted to intervene. It was fifth grade; I was over at a very good friend’s home and we were having a lovely time except this young woman was a constant texter even in the presence of a friend. So, in an act of desperation and a not well thought out plan, I quickly snatched the phone out of her hand and ran. I then proceeded to hide the phone from her so that she would be forced to spend real time in her actual surroundings. This plan did not end will. Needless to say the phone was given back, and then the rest of the day spent with a slight hostility towards one another. Although this attempt to put an end to the bad-mannered behavior failed, it is important to not just let it slide all the time.

I do not think that this behavior will ever completely come to an end, but I believe it can be greatly reduced as more people who become aware that it is irreverent. I think that if people begin to bring it up to one another and address a person individually and specifically, more and more people will begin to realize that this is a habit that everyone must kick. As we are now, we are beginning to lose the common comfortability of engaging in conversation with someone we are not very familiar with and we are replacing that loss with the usage of cell phones and technology. As we are off in our own little ignorant state of content with our minds fixed on our phones, we fail to pick up much of what is happening around us, and what is happening around us is life. The last thing that anyone should want to miss out on is all the experiences of life.