If I see another YouTube video of giggling babies or sad dogs while I want to savor and compliment the cook or receive compliments of a yummy meal, I will have a fit! I don’t need to see the recipe for apple pie with a strudel topping while I am eating a piece of apple pie with strudel topping! The holiday foods are looked forward to all year and I will be damn if it is ruined again by some smart assed know it all smart phone!
Family get to-gethers have revealed to me that an extra “being” is present at the dining table. Discussions and conversations are halted while someone Goggles a fact. Is it me or do others find this uninvited guest, a know it all and annoying presence?
What about personal beliefs and thoughts shared? I support curiosity but does it have to be immediate? Does the smart phone or computer at the table keep the conversation more superficial?
The smart phone or computer/tablet at the table makes checking the user’s Facebook or twitter accounts or email very easy. How many people just check and don’t respond? Can you enforce no electronics at the table? Does it start out that way only to be dashed when the innocent act of looking up a fact escalates to another being at the table and the user is pulled into their online world? What about using the phone to take pictures and then immediately sent to Facebook?
So without having fits, how do you handle this breach in etiquette? Do you just set an extra place setting? Do you enforce the no electronics rule? I love technology, but am I griping like the little old lady I am turning into?