You know what bugs me?
Cell phones.
Haha! But seriously, not just their existence (which I tend to appreciate) but the way they've altered how we "do things."
Going out used to be more fun. You get people together, you call them beforehand and tell them where you'll be at, and then once you go, that's it. You're now into the doing stage, and out of the planning stage.
Here's the setting: you and a bunch of friends meet up at some bar on Friday night. You're all sitting around the table, or standing by the bar, chatting it up. Invariably, at least half of those people (nowadays) are texting other people at the same time.
This bugs me. When I go out, I go out and I commit to the occasion. I certainly don't sit around waiting for a better offer to arrive via electronic communication, and in almost every case I do not have back-and-forth text message conversations with persons not present.
Now, I'm not an ogre. I like that people can find out where you are, or get directions, or even send you a funny cell phone picture from where they are. Hooray technology! But it doesn't mean we should all mentally check out from where we're physically present.
Too often I see this. Is it a constant need for attention that just hanging out doesn't fill? Is it a dissatisfaction with the people present? Some combination of the two, plus other factors?
This is probably a very personal pet peeve of mine, and unnoticed in the general population. It may be related to my dislike of bar-hopping--I never see a bar as "dead" because I'm usually not looking for life outside of what I brought into the place. It's almost certainly related to the diminished sense of self-worth that becomes implied when somebody you're hanging out with is devoting a substantial amount of time trying to figure out how to improve the social interaction.
Or I'm just a crank at the young age of 29. Yeah, that may be it.
2 comments:
I agree. That bothers me too. I almost want to say, "go home if you don't want to be here" because its not like they are adding to the conversation...
my only exception are those with a long distance relationship, because sometimes they have to talk? I'm not sure, I just hate to put this on them because their entire relationship is on the phone.
see I don't give them an exception, because that's supposed to be why a LDR is difficult.
if they were not long distance, and one of them were out at the bar, would it be cool to be all text-y and whatnot?
hell no, so it ain't cool if you're long distance either. now, if the bartender sets his hair on fire, and you snap a pic, feel free to text. but 25 messages back and forth? you suck.
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