I see this with who I presume to be married couples in their mid-30s to mid-50s. Seems they would rather eat and interact with their smartphones than socialize with each other during their meals.
One of the most irritating things is the high rise office building I work in. Everyone getting in and out of the elevators is busy on their phones, paying no attention to anything else and creating all sort of problems for each other and dinosaurs like me who think it’s ridiculous. And then there are people who walk into you on the sidewalk because they are only paying attention to their smartphones.
The one that cracked me up a couple of weeks ago happened in the all-day continuing education seminar I was at. I could see this 20-something a couple of seats from me spending the whole time swiping at pictures of women on his phone under the table, paying absolutely no attention to the speakers. I assume it was “tinder” or something like that. My thought was, well, at least it’s pictures of women he’s looking at.
Another issue: Pokemon Go. I was out on my jogging route yesterday and they must have set up a new “hot spot” on the sidewalk. There must have been 75 people there, all staring at their phones. When I came back on my return run a half hour later, a crowd of people was still at it (it was getting dark at that point). All I could think was that these folks believe that that is “reality.”
My other big laugh is watching tourists visiting here taking smartphone pics of their just-served restaurant meal. Then the frantic finger action which I would guess is posting the pic on some social network.
And yes, it seems to be a 30-40 yr old female thing to do, not millennials. Could be the kids cannot afford to eat at a place that serves food worthy of photos.