AS A TEENAGER, I endured years of accusations from my parents that I spent more time gazing intently at my phone than I ever did making eye contact with them.
Given that the Nokia 3310 was the phone du jour during my teenage years, you can imagine that the situation only intensified in my early twenties when I got my hands on a smart phone.
I lost count of the number of exchanges, usually fraught with tension, that my mother and I had about my apparent inability to ignore my phone and instead focus on the conversation she was attempting to hold with me.
And then in recent years she was presented with an iPad, and everything changed.
While I’m capable – for the most part – of leaving my phone in my bag during visits to my family home, my parents can’t seem to tear themselves away from their devices.
The roles have utterly reversed, and while I’m perched in front of them chatting away, I’m acutely aware I only have a small percentage of their attention…. if that.
While they’re as far from tech-savvy as you’re likely to find, they’ve mastered the smart phone and the iPad, and it’s fair to say that they’re the ones who now struggle to make eye contact for prolonged periods of time.
They just need to check an online shopping order, or have a quick scan of Facebook, or YouTube an absolute banger from 1974; you know yourself.
It doesn’t particularly bother me, but I am interested in the role reversal, if I’m honest.
Hand on heart; who has the worst etiquette when it comes to their devices in your family?
