A Forgotten App Called Etiquette

In a recent interview, a best-selling author had commented that his books are competing against apps like Candy Crush and Flappy Birds. I do admit being hooked to these games for hours and feeling frustrated about an unproductive day in the end. It’s a travesty that books (even humorous fiction), does not sell well these days. However, what is most worrying me is the phone etiquette of people nowadays. Read some of my personal case studies below, put on your critical thinking hats and reason out whether this kind of behaviour is acceptable.

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 1. A classmate says ‘hi’ and the two of you start a conversation. Instead of responding to you, she is typing away on their phone. You might think it’s an important conversation, but no, she’s sharing jokes with her friends on watsapp. Then you’re thinking ‘Nice, she comes talk to you and chooses to be interrupted by insignificant text messages’.

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2. Your five year old child is begging you to take him to the park. But your schedule is packed with things that must be done today. You decide to give in to temptation and hand over your smart phone. Your child gets hooked, spending hours in the virtual gaming world. The next day you decide that it’s time to get some fresh air in the park, so you call your child. But this time, he prefers to play on your phone. He seems uninterested for any physical and social activity.

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3. You have a friends’ friend staying over at your place for the night. As soon as she arrives, she asks for her room and continues playing on her phone. ‘Wow! Talk about doing someone a favour.’

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4. You are walking on a narrow road, the person in front of you is staring at his phone. You don’t have space to move past and you collide and an altercation erupts.

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5. At a dinner with family, you observe a couple seated at the next table. Both are having food and texting away this moment. They do this till the time you leave the place.

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Now you must be thinking that I am anti technology. No! I am a tech enthusiast. Technogy is a great medium to collaborate and share ideas. It should strive to make life better and improve human connections, not deminish them. It’s high time we proved that technology is a boon and not a substitute for Real life.

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