The Art of Conversation is Dead

[woe10]

I was in a Bar last night with another friend who lives here, and at least 85% of the customers were sat in silence, with their eyes glued to a smartphone / tablet screen. The kids were glued cross-eyed to Nintendo thingys.

We just looked at each other and shook our heads, what happened to talking to each other 

[Can the Man]

Sorry Woe, but if I saw Margret Thatcher in a bar, I wouldn't speak with her either 

[IsThisForumStillGoingWow]

You're obviously going to really boring bars then Woe..and is that any worse really than seeing everyone's eyes glues to the latest soap or footie match in a bar..At least it must have been nice and quiet there 

[IsThisForumStillGoingWow]

And it looks as though Albert's prediction was correct 

"I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."  <> Albert Einsten. <>

[PHo]

Totally agree Woe. You see them on the plane too. As soon as the wheels touch they are online seeing who has updated their facebook status or tweeted some inane remark.  I've nearly been walked into in the street more than once by people so engrossed in their little screens that they can't even look where they are going. A friend's daughter, age 16, is totally addicted to messaging and can have 4 or 5 conversations going at once.  What on earth do they find to talk about?

There was a post a month or two back from a couple who were so attached to their smart phones that they could not put them away when in a bar. They left them on the table and were surprised when they were stolen!

[dagwood]

Yes, they have their heads stuck in either smartphones, tablet computers or worse still the Daily Mail. 

[woe10]

Can The Man:  I'm going to change my picture just for you if it's so irritating. How about Ed Milliband 

Hev: Yes it was a BORING bar. Won't be going there again. Any bar advertising WIFI is off limits now 

Dagwood: What have you got against The Daily Mail. At least you can read it for 1/2 hour, not 2 minutes like the SUN 

Hev: Right again, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."  <> Albert Einsten. <> It's happened already 

[PHo]

Try the Times Woe - just the crossword takes half an hour or more.  It has brilliant anagrams - for example
Totalitarianism - a Stalin imitator
Gareth Bale - The Real bag

[Can the Man]

Try the One Direction Movie   

This is Us - Us is a naughty word from my potty mouth.

[Can the Man]

Can The Man:  I'm going to change my picture just for you if it's so irritating. How about Ed Milliband 

Hev: Yes it was a BORING bar. Won't be going there again. Any bar advertising WIFI is off limits now 

Dagwood: What have you got against The Daily Mail. At least you can read it for 1/2 hour, not 2 minutes like the SUN 



Hev: Right again, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."  <> Albert Einsten. <> It's happened already 

Nice Avatar Woe 

[Ronnietheblue]

That was very accommodating of Woe, Can, hope you're happy now

[dagwood]

Can, They are messing with your post, ya wee job ya. Maybe Im banned Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[dagwood]

Can The Man:  I'm going to change my picture just for you if it's so irritating. How about Ed Milliband 

Hev: Yes it was a BORING bar. Won't be going there again. Any bar advertising WIFI is off limits now 

Dagwood: What have you got against The Daily Mail. At least you can read it for 1/2 hour, not 2 minutes like the SUN 

Hev: Right again, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."  <> Albert Einsten. <> It's happened already 

Nothing against the Daily Mail when they stick to the facts, besides its a great way to wind you up.

[Blueboy7]

100% with you Woe, words I thought I would never type. Me and the boss were sitting in the El Campanario shopping mall in Corralejo one night and a French folk group came on strumming their stuff, they were brilliant,least we thought so.We looked around the other occupied six tables and three of them had gangs of young holidaymakers all looking at their bloody phones, never clapping, just utterly wrapped up in themselves, another table had a middle aged couple with the woman gazing lovingly at her phone. Bad mannered, selfish, self absorbed, pretentious tossers. Rant over.

[Can the Man]

Can, They are messing with your post, ya wee job ya. Maybe Im banned Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Thanks Olle, it's fixed again

Try the One Direction Movie   

This is Us - Us is a naughty word from my potty mouth.

[isleswing]

Chap in his 20's  just went past my window, texting while riding his bike along the pavement, people having to step out of his way.

[PHo]

Is there anyone on the forum who thinks that this addiction to phones is a good thing, and if so could they explain why to us fogeys, and in particular what they find to say to each other?

[fifi]

I cant stand mobile phones. I have one for emergency use only. Everyone knows that there is no point in phoning me on it because it is never switched on. I do use it on the Island occasionally though because I dont have a land line there.

When I was waiting to be seen at the hospital yesterday I was sitting behind three hunky foreign males. I was keeping myself amused by ear wigging their conversation and trying to figure out what language they were speaking. One of them (Mr Super gorgeous) took out his mobile phone and used the camera on it to see if his hair looked allright. He was using it as a mirror.

[dagwood]

That was me.

[fifi]

Slightly off subject....but this was in Island Connections today.

Beard-scratch driver angry at Traffic Branch treatment

A motorist who was ordered to pull over on the motorway by Civil Guard traffic branch officers eventually managed to convince them that he was not talking on his mobile phone but had a very good reason to have his hand on his lower face when they 'caught' him.
The driver says he suffers from a skin condition which forces him to scratch the area around his beard continuously. "Try as I might, they would not listen to my reasoning when they made me come off the motorway outside Los Cristianos to slap me with a fine for allegedly using my phone. It took some time and even 'evidence' in the form of large chunks of flakey skin on my lap and on the car seat to persuade them that the reason was genuine" said the driver, who was very unhappy at the over-bearing attitude of the officers during the incident.

[fifi]

That was me.

[woe10]

Your dead right Fifi - Slightly off subject.. 

[dagwood]

Woe, why did you change your picture, I was going to place the old one on the mantelpiece to frighten the children away from the fire.

[Paddster]

Your dead right Fifi - Slightly off subject.. 

Ooooooooooooooh 

[Elite of the forum]

Dont take me mobile on holiday

[dee-dee]

My phone is switched off and left in the safe for the duration of the holiday and only taken out if I need to contact friends on the Island 

[woe10]

Woe, why did you change your picture, I was going to place the old one on the mantelpiece to frighten the children away from the fire.

21st Century Schizoid Man, by King Crimson. Album Cover.  Best rock song ever written. Years ahead of it's time. 

I can hear all the One Direction / Justin Beiber  fans saying "WHO "

[fifi]

Your dead right Fifi - Slightly off subject.. 

Ooooooooooooooh 

Hmm yes....I guess Woe needs to practise the art of conversation a bit more Paddster.      

If you gave that kind of answer to a stranger in a bar (even a boring bar full of mobile phone users) they just might take it the wrong way and think that you were being rude.


Practise makes perfect.

[Ronnietheblue]

My phone is switched off and left in the safe for the duration of the holiday and only taken out if I need to contact friends on the Island 

Same here Dee, I don't even take a camera.. Can see why parents let kids take phones etc tho, Some people moan if kids are running around bars/restaurants and then moan if they're sat still playing on phones etc. Can't win sometimes.

[Blueboy7]

After writing my post regarding my thoughts on Mobile Phones, we went to our village local to watch a couple of groups play, while the groups were playing, a mixture of age groups were pointing their phones at the performers, (standing up in the process), apparently its the norm to video and send it to your family and friends to show them what a good time you are having, "what is all of that about". I decided to do some research, I realise now that its me and Mrs, we are very much out of touch (no pun intended) below is the summary of one Australian university's research into the subject - I now feel guilty at having called people, a phone is a new appendage apparently -

"The adoption of mobile phones as a form of self-expressive identity within this cohort influences both type and frequency of mobile phone behavior (Mannetti et al., 2002; Walsh & White, 2007) suggesting that mobile phones have become a materialistic representation of the self. Thus, a number of processes appear to have led to mobile phones becoming a valued part of young people's self-identity such that some young mobile phone users cannot imagine life without their mobile phone and view their mobile phone as an appendage (Walsh, White & Young"