In a world with constant digital connection, it seems that undivided attention between two people, or more specifically, in a group setting, is impossible. Speaking from personal experience, it feels like phones have taken over basic conversational skills and can be used as an excuse not to talk or participate in conversations. And yes, I completely understand being on your phone every once in a while or if you need to be, but showing basic respect should undoubtedly come first.
As important as scrolling Reels or TikToks are, the whole point of being together as a group is to interact with each other. Ever since the development of smartphones, humans have become increasingly antisocial and the quality of the limited conversations we do have has greatly deteriorated. Many people may not even realize they are being disrespectful or consumed by their device, as it has become a new societal habit. However, this normalization provides no benefit whatsoever and needs to be reversed.
In addition to uncontrollable scrolling, it is important to realize that just one person being on their phone can influence everyone around them to do the same. If one or two people start disassociating with everyone else by going on their phone, it causes other people to do the same—I know that I don’t want to be the one sitting there trying to talk to everyone while being completely ignored. The fear of being left out causes a chain reaction, leading to a more negative environment overall because no one is interacting with each other.
Overall, the addiction to phones has eroded basic manners, causing awkward social conditions and negatively impacting relationships. The best solution to this problem is to bring to attention the toll that smart devices take in our lives, and hopefully create a plan in order to stay off of phones as much as possible. For example, my friends and I try to put our phones away for the last ten minutes of lunch every school day. While some may argue that ten minutes may not be very long, the action of making everyone aware of our normalized problem is an effective starting point.