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Post by factorychef on Dec 10, 2015 8:27:05 GMT -5
I'm running across more people telling me that they are banning their families from bringing any electronics with them for the holidays. They are sick of seeing their faces looking down and not talking.
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Post by aquaduct on Dec 10, 2015 8:38:43 GMT -5
Not here. Don't see a need to.
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Post by Marshall on Dec 10, 2015 8:56:26 GMT -5
No. No need to. Grandkids are too young. They don't have phones. Adults act like adults.
But I can see where it'd be a problem with high schoolers. And maybe with Millennials.
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Post by Doug on Dec 10, 2015 9:49:24 GMT -5
If I had a gathering I"d think seriously about it.
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Post by mnhermit on Dec 10, 2015 10:01:24 GMT -5
sorry, seems like maybe there's nothing interesting at the gathering if everyone has their head in their tablet/phone. Maybe they're tired of listening to the same self-involved stories every year. Better idea turn off your wireless network - at least then it'll all come out of their data quota for the month and Mom and Dad will pay for it  another 'get offa my lawn' issue. |
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Post by fauxmaha on Dec 10, 2015 10:16:54 GMT -5
I encourage most of my relatives to bring their cell phones. Saves having to talk with them.
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Post by Marshall on Dec 10, 2015 11:00:58 GMT -5
I encourage most of my relatives to bring their cell phones. Saves having to talk with them. And you can text them when dinner is ready. |
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Post by millring on Dec 10, 2015 11:25:19 GMT -5
This is timely.
I've really been conflicted about the holiday gathering this year. Oh, in reality I probably won't do anything about it. In fact, I probably won't say anything about it either. I'll be a good sport.
And, in large part I'll be a good sport about it because as pissed off as I was about last year....to assert that my company is worth my family's taking their noses away from their phones is a pretty audacious pronouncement. Who do I think I am anyway?
But last year as Dar and I were driving away from the family gathering, I found out that Dar's family experience was different from mine. I had gone upstairs with my brother and sister and anyone else who wanted to sing and play along with the music -- an annual Christmas tradition. No, not everyone enjoys the music. The in-laws do not. Mostly, it's me and my brother and sister and nephews and nieces who do.
Well, that left Dar in a room with the rest of the in-laws. The room with the TV on. The room with the rest of the six of them sitting on couches facing the TV but with their noses in their phones.
I'm not sure why Dar didn't simply come upstairs and listen to the music. She might not have enjoyed it either, but it certainly would, I think, have been better than sitting in a room full of people looking at their phones.
I suppose she could have tried to figure out which of the remote controls managed the TV and she could have channel-surfed for something other than the game she wasn't interested in. But I fear (as I think Dar would have) that that would have appeared as a sort of passive aggressive act obviously aimed at the rest of the room's inattentiveness.
So, I'm thinking the way I'll handle it this year is to make sure Dar stays by my side. I'm not sure why we got split up last year....though I'll admit that having Dar in the room while we're trying to play music has its downside. Dar is the kind who will strike up a conversation with anyone else in the room (including those trying to play instruments) such that the music then has a competing din. In other words, though the phone snub was really bad.....being stuck in the music room would probably have been just as boring and un-engaging as the phone room.
Maybe we need to give up the music in trade for everyone else giving up their phones?
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Post by kenlarsson on Dec 10, 2015 11:30:29 GMT -5
Cell phones are ok but we are banning guns, second amendment be damned.
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Post by Fingerplucked on Dec 10, 2015 12:07:10 GMT -5
Maybe we need to give up the music in trade for everyone else giving up their phones? With all due respect, I think YOU need to give up the music. If you bring Dar over to your family’s, it’s on you to make sure she’s not sitting there with no one to talk to. Forget everyone else’s phone. They’re free to do what they want. And forget about your musical siblings upstairs. They can play if they want. Just make sure Dar’s having a good time and if that means sitting all alone with her, then sit all alone with her. Hopefully it’ll work out better than that. Maybe some of the phone/TV crowd will join the two of you to see what’s going on. Same with the musicians in the family. Or maybe, just maybe, Dar will ask why you’re not upstairs playing with the others, and will insist that you go join them with reassurances that she’ll be fine. Then you can do what you want guilt free. Second best outcome: buy her a cowbell. |
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Post by Fingerplucked on Dec 10, 2015 12:17:17 GMT -5
Banning cellphones suggests that your company is somehow better. Maybe it’s not.
I’m expecting a lot of cellphones this year. Last year we had the usual drift with the kids. I don’t know where they go to or what they do, but that’s okay. And Chris, my nearly 7 foot tall nephew-in-law, did his usual thing and parked in front of the TV. That’s okay too. The rest of the crowd hung around the kitchen and dining room. And I’m sorry to say that they got a full dose of me talking about food, nutrition and diet last year. It wasn’t all my fault. My niece in law announced that she’d lost over 40 pounds on a low carb diet. So she started it. Unfortunately, two or three hours later I was still ending it. This year I may want to talk about our microbiota and how our symbiotic relationship with bacteria and fungi affects our health and well being.
If the rest of my family has any smarts at all, they’ll all be armed with cellphones this year.
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Post by Village Idiot on Dec 10, 2015 12:18:58 GMT -5
If cell phones were an issue we'd definitely make a rule. Our Christmas, however, won't have people in the nose in cell phone age group this year.
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Post by aquaduct on Dec 10, 2015 12:25:37 GMT -5
I grew up in geographically isolated family. There was only the 6 of us in Detroit and the rest were in Salt Lake or California. Christmas lasted until about noon when the bowling alley opened and we all went bowling.
My wife's family is quite large and I had to get used to the circus holiday thing when I met her. And they're musical. God, getting the guitars out sucked. They family only wanted to hear her drug addled brother play all her parents favorites. Fuck music, just a narcissistic SOB's way to get high on the attention.
I'll go home rather than play music.
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Post by billhammond on Dec 10, 2015 12:28:19 GMT -5
Pardon a little drifty excursion here, but I wish to report a new frontier in device addiction.
Since our office moved to the heart of the city and to the rabbit warren that is the skyway system (elevated walkways between buildings, for those unfamiliar with that term), I have learned to be constantly vigilant for fellow pedestrians who might run into me, or I into them, because they are entranced with their smartphones.
Yesterday, in the last leg of skyway connections between my parking ramp and the office, I nearly rear-ended (hee hee) a dweeby-looking guy who was shuffling along and staring down at an iPad, not a phone. As I passed him on the left, I could see what he was staring at so intently -- an electronic chessboard. And no doubt contemplating his next move.
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Post by Marshall on Dec 10, 2015 14:12:42 GMT -5
Play music ? What a novel idea.
Nobody in my family cares about music. My wife's family is worse. My dad was a self taught musician, though. If he had a few beers in him (quite common) at a family party with his bros & sises, they'd all end up harmonizing of some old tunes through the alcohol haze. (He was quite good as I remember it). But those kind of gatherings stopped happening 40 or 50 years ago. Now there's nothing but whatevertheheck sporting event-du-jour playing out on the wide-screen TV. We're more likely to argue about what the quarterback should be doing than talking about anything in common.
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Post by dradtke on Dec 10, 2015 14:14:26 GMT -5
John, I recommend you get Dar a figure-eight bungee cord belt for Christmas. It's a good way to promote togetherness whether you want to or not.
Not sure how it works playing guitar, though.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Dec 10, 2015 21:48:54 GMT -5
We go over to Anita's folks and the rest of the family gathers there. We have dinner, then we let the kids open the presents, then the adults have the stealing game. Everyone brings a present, worth 30 dollars or so, and we all pick a number. First up gets to pick any of the presents. Second up gets to choose any of the presents left, or steal the first present. After a present is stolen for the third time it cannot be stole again. The game is a lot of fun and provides some interesting family moments. Then we have desert and play penochle.
Mike
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Post by Village Idiot on Dec 10, 2015 22:19:10 GMT -5
We do the same thing, lots of fun. No matter what, people laugh and it's a lot of fun. This year if Mike throws in his Airstream, I'm stealing it.
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Post by Fingerplucked on Dec 10, 2015 22:57:55 GMT -5
I think you guys are doing it all wrong. I try to pick out the best present, usually based on size, weight and quality of the wrapping paper. I then put that present in my car, go back inside, and see if I can get away with stealing another one. Sure, there are some tears from the kids. And adults. But the kids will grow out of it.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Dec 11, 2015 22:27:27 GMT -5
We do the same thing, lots of fun. No matter what, people laugh and it's a lot of fun. This year if Mike throws in his Airstream, I'm stealing it. You seem to have skipped over the $30.00 total worth part. The Airstream is not up for grabs. But I do think you should pick up a used one, and meet us in S OR at the coast in spring. I'll bring the smoked salmon and Dungeness crab. Mike |
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