It depends. I spend so much time with my beat friend that we don't always have things to talk about. Sometimes we get coffee and just sit around and read or look at shit on our phones.
Tbh I wouldn't mind my kids looking at their phones.. what does it matter if the games they play are analog or digital? I'm talking about the sitting in the restaurant kind of situation, where kids usually draw, read or do other stuff to entertain themselves.
I get the sentiment, but I have adhd and even with meds, it is sometimes a struggle to pay attention to someone, and I need something extra to do while holding a conversation at times. I need to have something to do with my hands so it's a quiet phone or some clicking toy or pen, so take your pick.
I find doodling to be a good addition, especially if I'm having lunch with fellow doodlers
Because not only does it keep my hands busy so I stop bouncing my legs but it can also feed into conversations as well (once has lunch with a fellow doodler who we sketched stuff behind each other, it was really fun)
I have autism and probably ADHD, eating without something else to stimulate me is absolute misery and if you tell me to put away my phone i'm going to start avoiding eating with you.
"Hurray! Our children are unhappy! This is our goal as parents for some reason..."
You know you're the parents right? You don't need to rely on the authority of others to tell your kids not to have their phones out at dinner? You can just do that yourself.
So if my wife and I want to look up the answer to a question, or check our calendar, we get charged more? Good business strategy there...
I'm late GenX/Xennial (analog childhood digital late teens/adulthood) so to me he definitely talks, thinks, and dresses like someone from an older generation.
When it first aired I was in my early 20s and he was already acting middle-aged.
I'll give a pass to a quick check if it's potentially something vital, but your latest post and the responses can wait for an hour. Focus on the moment at hand. Same gripe I have with people who sit there and film an entire concert rather than watch it.
this sentiment is just gonna make people not want to be around you though, maybe be more interesting to talk to if you want people to not pull out their phone?
It's perfectly fine to just spend time around others without interacting with them, it's basically just parallel play for adults.
And in many cases this sentiment is just straight up ableist, people with autism/ADHD commonly use their phone to keep themselves stimulated and happy, if you tell such a person to put away their phone you're being a massive dick.
I may not actively tell them to put it away, but it'll be noted for the future to determine if I feel like bothering to go with them.
I have a young kid, if they have a friend over and put on some single player game while their friend just sits there I'm going to point out that it's rude to have someone over and not include them in what you're doing.
Honestly if you need to do this to get your kids to talk to you either you're a shitty parent or your kid has nothing in common with you and doesn't want to hear you rant about Greg from accounting for the umpteenth time.