Lunch out with officemates and there's wifi at the restaurant

@chiyosan (30183)
Philippines
August 26, 2012 8:21pm CST
Suddenly we find ourselves all browsing the internet, using the viber, and checking out our facebook pages... instead of talking to each other and socialising! haha. did this scenario happened to you already? What do you think of people, friends or groups that are together in a place, say coffee shop or restaurant.. and instead of talking to each other, they all grabbed their phones and just started using it as if there aren't anyone else in the table with them... he he I think it is a very common sight nowadays, i even see families with both parents on the phone and their children are busy playing games on their parents other devices such as ipad... they aren't talking to each other and is not even eating well because all they want to do is to log in to their facebooks, instagrams, or twitter accounts! =P The moment we noticed we are too silent and all on our cellphones, one suddenly said, hey put down and let's chat! And then we realize, oh right.. what the heck are we doing ignoring each other while we are together!!
1 person likes this
14 responses
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
28 Aug 12
haha, this has happened to my friends and me too! We have data plans so we can do this wherever without really noticing, although my friends are pretty good about not pulling out their phones and I have been trying hard to break the habit.
2 people like this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
2 Sep 12
hehe well my friends in the office are not all on data plan but we have this one office mate who is glued to her phone. hehe she loves to play games with it, and is always texting with her special someone. =) ohh they have got a lot of time texting. which is sweet we just kid her all the time that she cannot put down her phone.
1 person likes this
@toyota4k (1208)
• Philippines
27 Aug 12
That happens here and we go for lunch where there is wify sometimes not minding the waiter to take our orders before connecting. There is also a bus line with similar internet access.
2 people like this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
2 Sep 12
he he well there has been that time that i was excited to check out my account too, or to see if someone has messaged me on viber, then i realized that the waiter was waiting for me to order. :D i haven't ridden the bus with wifi access but yes.. i have been informed that it does exist, only they do not have trips within metro and their trip is quite far. :D
1 person likes this
@gaiza12 (4884)
• Philippines
27 Aug 12
So true! This happened to us one time. We were on queue for a videoke while waiting, we all got our phones and had pictures and all of us just added it on facebook, IG or tiwtter and waiting for comments from our friends. We didn't even realized that we were there to enjoy and have fun. When we were able to get inside our room for our videoke thingy, we had all our phones on our sides or our bags and did had a great time. Since that was after all what we were there for.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
1 Sep 12
that is right, maybe often we tend to just do things out of habit and we would not be able to notice that we have our friends with us who may need our attention at the time but we were too busy being on solitude and just be on our phones. he he Good you have enjoyed your time with your friends as well when you went out with them. It was good time as well yesterday with friends when we go out and it was great no one pulled out any phones! ha ha we were all sharing and laughing at each other's stories, even if we have heard them before! =)
@thanks1961 (7035)
• India
27 Aug 12
It is quite common that we all get together at different occasions like this. And now it is quite common that all are having mobiles and it is fully equipped with everything. We can spend time for anything and we need to culturalise ourself that we understand the situations that how to act, what to do, what should not, how to keep mannarism, behaviourism etc. Even on Friday, we the office collegues had a group lunch with 10-12 people and non of us used our mobile, except to make a call to few people who delayed to reach us and how long to reach for us. So, we need to behave depend on the situation and be cool on ourself by keeping updated with good manners, wherever needed.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
2 Sep 12
there are people who just loves technology and who are addicted to social networking sites. :D i guess it is just dependent on who you are with. luckily for us though we got to notice ourselves that we have retreated to our own world so we would not talk about work - as it kept on stressing us out!! =) he he
@jkct02 (2874)
• Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
27 Aug 12
It is true that we are interacting lesser and lesser with our friends and family because of the hand phone and internet. It will eventually come to a situation in extreme cases where some people just lost the ability to interact. They find it very hard to talk face to face. They are uneasy with people asking questions... Chat more when we are together before the chances are lost forever.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
that is ttrue, it is not impossible to happen when one will already lose the capability to be able to socialise with people outside their internet access, outside chat rooms, and social sites. =(
• India
27 Aug 12
i totally disagree wid dis sort of behaviours becoz it might hurt others or lose ur relationship wid dem. it even isnt gud for ur health. wen ur out wid sum ppl u hav to concentrat on dem so dat u can maintain a fair relationship wid dem. and it even effects ur brain n concentration. so try to put d chats n browsng aside till ur free away frm dem. takng wid ppl also makes u feel more bettr mentally wheras gadgets decrease ur mind power causing irritation. so u shd make use of d oppurtunity of spendng tym wid ppl.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
that is true, even i myself would be offended with someone who would be lookingg at his cellphone all the time when with me. i think its a disrespect to me giving this person my time and they are not valuing it by being busy about their phones.
@joliefille (3690)
• Philippines
15 Jan 13
I observe that a lot with families and friends in restaurants. But I also notice that some are busy chattering away (usually the older or middle-age people) instead of getting to their phones. I guess they are not as vain as the younger ones when it comes to Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Foursquare updates.
@myfb2009 (8296)
• Malaysia
27 Aug 12
Chiyosan, it ever happened to me when me and a group of my ex-colleagues goes to McDonald for a lunch. Everyone of us started to begin browsing our phone, looking for more interesting places to visit after the lunch. Without realizing, one by one of us started to get hooked to our favorite social networking sites. Only when one of our ex-colleagues started to ask why are all of us doing at here. Then only we realized that we are supposed to have a great group gathering, since we are hard to meet each others nowadays. Everyone of us have our own offline matters to settle daily. Hope you have a nice gathering as well...
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
1 Sep 12
haha i think it has happened to everyone. right? its very unlikely that one who has a gadget that connects to the net will not take the opportunity to log in and use the free wifi that is available. ha ha :D
@jugsjugs (12967)
12 Sep 12
I see this all the time, even when I am in the hospital people are on their phones, usually on face book, lol. My friend use to be forever on her phone here as well as when she went to other friends as well as to visit her family. I think that it is great if you are waiting for a appointment, as it passes the time away, but rather rude if you have arranged to go out with friends or visit them and you are on it.
1 person likes this
@pahak627 (4558)
• Philippines
27 Aug 12
It happened to me too. But I was with my daughter we just had snacks and it took us 2 or 3 hours at the foodcourt because we were browsing. It's only good if both or all of you in the table are doing the same but if there are those who happened to leave their gadgets at home, then that would be another matter. They might be offended as the others ignored them.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
oh, that is really something that would offend me as well, if all my friends who i am with would keep glued to his or her cellular phone while we are together. checking the phone once in a while would be fine but if the person is to always check on the phone, or would be texting or would browse the net while with me then i guess that is really something i would call their attention.
@emjay86 (640)
• Philippines
27 Aug 12
I find it such a sad scenario. It diminishes social interaction, much more the relationship formed over the net and LIVE (hehe) is entirely different. I do hope everyone would not fall into the same -routine?- :(
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@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
ah yes, of course it does kill the social interaction and social networking sites did take its toll on people's socializing ways. the thing is it has helped a lot but it did not really improve how people interact with people outside the internet.
@Raine38 (12391)
• United States
27 Aug 12
This only happens to me when I'm not interested with whoever I'm with or I just don't want to talk lol! But of course it never happens a lot as I just don't waste my time being with people who don't really have a connection to me. I do find this habit annoying and I think my kid siblings are picking it. So whenever we're all seated and the restaurant happen to have wifi, nobody's allowed to be glued on their iPhones or psp. They can do all that back home but meal times especially with the family must be respected.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
that is true and correct for everyone. we allmust be able to give respect to people we are asking time from. they chose to be with us and then we would only give them half of our attention because we are distracted of the technology we have brought with us. ha ha
• United States
27 Aug 12
That is so bad. I can't stand it when I am at lunch with someone and they can't put down their phone. I'll admit I use the internet a lot, but at least I am nice enough to leave it alone while eating out with others or visiting someone.
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@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
29 Aug 12
that is true. i too would be so offended if i am with someone who always is with his or her phone. i would feel bad that he would rather have time spent on the phone than with me.. but hey when we were with my friends, i was like.. they were all tagging and using the phones and i got nothing to do myself so i had to like do something as well. haha :D oh we realized that though and somehow got to it... and asked everyone to just stop and do nothing with our phones. hehe
• Malaysia
27 Aug 12
That is really bad, what's the point of getting together if you don't talk. It defeats the purpose. Anyways, i've experience something even more unbelievable than that. My friends and i were using the wifi and we were sitting on the same table. We kept our eyes on our computer screens and didn't talk but instead we were all chatting on facebook.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30183)
• Philippines
31 Aug 12
ahaha wow sapphire! that we never did. at least. =) well i do know it happens as i see some friends who did or have done that and when they realized, they have immediately tried to close as someone has pointed out that they should instead chat in personal since they are together anyway.