My son does a weekly intramural thing that we just left. This lady sat on her phone and outright ignored her kid losing his goddamned mind for an hour straight. No exaggeration, a whole hour, non-stop. She played on her phone, walked around the facility, and her son jumped up and down, threw himself on the ground, slapped at her, punched at her, and screamed bloody murder the whole time. He was somewhere around five years old if I had to guess. More than old enough to know better.

And yes, I'm judging her. I don't care if there was some reason or the kid's autistic or what, subjecting dozens of parents and kids to that is fucked. At the absolute minimum, I would've had mine outside, and we would be having a serious conversation about pulling it together or leaving. Why? Because that's setting the correct expectation for later in life. In a word: parenting. A number of parents took videos, and I'm sure the kid and his tuned-out mother playing on her cell phone are on social media feeds as I type this. She had to have been no older than 30. What the fuck.

quote:

intramural thing

?

Agreed that this kind of behavior should be - or should have been - "nipped in the bud." Small children are going to act up from time to time, but there was no reason for this. It continually amazes me how much noise their little lungs can put out.

I was recently in Chicago O'Hare and while waiting at the gate, I watched 2 kids about 7 years old running full speed through the crowd from gate to gate. Back and forth repeatedly while their old man had his face in his phone. Only saving grace was they were not on my flight.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

intramural thing

?

Intramural sports are sports teams/competitions organized by an institution (typically a university), but the players don't formally play for that school's official sports team.

Thing along the lines of rec league basketball/soccer/softball/etc., just with everyone attending the same school rather than coming from all across the city.

I fly for a living - tell me about it.

After 15 minutes while at the Walmart.

I walked over to the kid in the basket and said
Knock it off !
Nobody came here to hear you.

And it stopped, for good.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

The line from the Matrix was “The Matrix has you..”

Today, it’s the phone has you. Most people are cracked out on them. I’ve seen the same thing in public. Children running around like they just ate 500gr of sugar while the parent(s) stares into their phone like a zombie. Many people have to have it in their hand when they are awake. I picked up breakfast this morning, and I got stuck behind a guy driving 10 mph under the speed limit. Everyone kept going around him and the next lane to us, people were accelerating after tired of being stuck. I finally get around him, and he’s staring down into his phone. Every drive I make I have to deal with this now. Any time I go to a brick and mortar store to do anything, same behavior. Mindless idiots. If there is something I want to read or watch, I’d rather get back home to a proper screen, etc. I just don’t get it. I do know, that they are all dopamine addicts. I started calling them phone fuckers. They just have to fuck with the phone 24/7.

Yall please don’t take this the wrong way, but I generally don’t like other people’s kids.

Too often the parenting doesn’t line up. It may not be the kids fault at all, but doesn’t mean I gotta pretend.

My last Chief had good kids, we got along well.

Unless the kid’s name is Damien, it’s all the parents’ fault.

Yeah,

I'm amazed by how few people can entertain themselves without a screen. Not just kids, but 'grown' adults as well.

Stuff a phone in front of a 2 YO and then wonder why they have the attention span of a gnat and grow up with no impulse control?

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I finally get around him, and he’s staring down into his phone.

Yep, it's everywhere. I walk into the breakroom at work to shoot the chit with someone and there's five people sitting around a table, all staring down at their phones and not saying a word. I don't get it either, but I hate them (phones). I don't even like carrying mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

I walk into the breakroom at work to shoot the chit with someone and there's five people sitting around a table, all staring down at their phones

Waiting room at the doctors' office has multiple signs telling people to turn their cell phones off. Nine people sitting there, I was the only one who was not using a phone.

We just had a young couple do this IN CHURCH with their little darling. Little darling loudly yelled, cried, yelled, cried and these clueless/not-giving-a-shit/selfish people let it go on for 30 MINUTES before finally taking little darling out.

Our church is non confrontational and not willing to “offend” to a fault and it results in people all having their church experience ruined by one clueless set of parents.

The wonderful rabbi at our synagogue that my family attended when I was young adhered to an unwritten two-strikes rule.

As the second outburst he would pause the service and make a light-hearted joke or tell an anecdotal story about the prayer he was reading to give the family time to exit the sanctuary.

It all worked out o.k. to everyone's satisfaction.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I finally get around him, and he’s staring down into his phone.

Yep, it's everywhere. I walk into the breakroom at work to shoot the chit with someone and there's five people sitting around a table, all staring down at their phones and not saying a word. I don't get it either, but I hate them (phones). I don't even like carrying mine.

I call them phone fuckers now. Pretty accurate term. And it’s the overwhelming majority of society. I’ve watched two parents and their teenage girls, exit their vehicle, all 4 with my precious in their hands as they exit, so the parents addiction spreads to another generation. People have to have it in their hands at all times. Every single drive I make, which is mostly necessity these days, same deal. Idiot phone fuckers. This weekend I’m on a 70 mph highway and this guy is doing 50 mph. I’m stuck behind him. I had a driver almost run into the back of me as we were driving so slow versus the flow of traffic. I honk on the horn for a few seconds to let this idiot in front of me know he needs to move. He looks at his rearview mirror, at me, then right back down looking at that POS phone. He didn’t even care. I finally get around him as I don’t want to get hit, and I see him bricking over a dozen vehicles who are now stuck behind him. He didn’t give 2 fucks. I see this behavior every single time I drive. The people actually driving and paying attention now make up the minority of drivers. Last night I went to the grocery store that is 1 mile from my house, and subdivision. Massive wreck. 2 idiots had hit each other. One totaled Civic coupe and some kind of EV. The intersection was a 3 ring circus.

In person, people either playing loud apps or whatever shit through the speakerphone, or worse, having loud conversations via speaker phone. It’s literally a problem everywhere. It’s an epidemic. So many times I’ve wanted to snatch it out of their hands and do my best Tom Brady imitation. But I’m sure my precious is $1000 and I’d be jailed for a felony for busting their wittle my precious.

I rarely carry mine either. I have the watch. It does all the necessity things I need. Stupid ass phone is locked up in the vehicle or I leave it home on the charger and don’t even take it with me. I loathe the phone and the phone society it has created. Everyone is doped out on dopamine with them and they are all addicts. I think if the wireless carries shut them down for a half day people would be committing mass suicide.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

I walk into the breakroom at work to shoot the chit with someone and there's five people sitting around a table, all staring down at their phones

Waiting room at the doctors' office has multiple signs telling people to turn their cell phones off. Nine people sitting there, I was the only one who was not using a phone.

Sorry, Otto, I gotta disagree, at least in part. First, if you (dr office, lawyer office, motor vehicles, anywhere I schedule an appointment) don't want me to use my phone, then see me at my scheduled time. Fine, I won't TALK on my phone in your waiting room, but I'm damn well going to USE it.

Second, I used to cope with this in the past by bringing a book or magazine. I still read, but now my book is packaged in a 2.5"x6" format - my phone (or iPad). Bringing a book or magazine used to be a perfectly acceptable behavior. So again, I'm damn well going to use my phone.

Now using it so that it annoys people (games, movies, YouTubes), or interfering with what's going on around me (e.g., can't hear when my name or number is called), I do draw my line there.

IT,

I don’t think that was me.

I don’t spend a lot of time on my phone but I usually have it around because it is a useful tool.

If you walk into the breakroom or the waiting room and see me looking at my phone it is because I am reading my book. It is amusing that if I had a paperback book in front of me no one would judge me, but if I am reading the same book on my phone, I am a mindless zombie slave to the evil internet.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
IT,

I don’t think that was me.

D'oh! Sorry! It was V-Tail.

ETA: I used to always have a book with me, I'm an avid reader. Since the advent of the smart phone, I now have literally dozens at any given time. It makes travel so much more compact!

If that happened with one of my kids, I would have yanked their ass up and been out of there after ONE warning. It would not have been pretty after.