A phone is no longer a phone, in the traditional sense. Sure, you can still make phone calls, but chances are, the last form of communication you had was through text. Let’s face it, what we call a phone these days it a multi-media device. We use it to communicate, we use it take pictures, watch videos, play video games, scroll social media, etc. With such an awesome device, common sense flies out the window quite easily!

First example. You’re hanging out with a friend you haven’t seen in several months. Five minutes after you both sit down and order some coffee, they whip out their phone and start to text away. You ask them how things are going. They glance up, give you a one word answer and stare back at their phone. At this point, you might as well just get up and leave because their behavior is plain rude. Or they just lack common sense.

That’s the thing with phones. Most of us don’t recognize that it’s fairly new tech. Your parents probably didn’t grow up with a device that makes us always connected, always available. They didn’t have household rules for how to handle phones, tablets, etc. So many of us probably weren’t told how to utilize a phone in public situations. But here’s a hint. When you’re around other people, put the phone away!

Makes sense right? The point of being around another person is: being around the other person! At the same time, next time you go out, look around and take notice of what kids are doing. More often than not, they’re on a tablet or phone while the parents are talking. Or worse, the parents are on the phone too! Maybe social etiquette surrounding phones hasn’t caught up, maybe it’s bad parenting, or maybe it’s just a lack of common sense…