Keeping in touch with friends

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Yes, but weirdly it seems to be perfectly acceptable to sit on a lounger facing the sea while reading a book, while it is totally unacceptable to sit on a lounger facing the sea while using one's phone.

 

 

I don't know.  The one I recall, the offender was sitting in one of the lounges, likely with a beverage of their choice.   They were taking up valuable space by someone who wanted to chat it up I guess.  

 

I often sit with my kindle in a comfortable place in the atrium or one of the inside lounge areas.   Who knows, maybe I'm getting the ol stink eye the whole time I'm there.  Haha.   More likely the complaint isn't representative of most passengers.  

[wcook]

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Other than the paper ones being useful for saving chairs, I don't see a difference between a printed vs an electronic book.  

But, I am drawing this thread way off track -- My apologies and I'll try to get back on course.     

I bring my first generation Nook on cruises to save lounge chairs or a place at the buffet. Paper books are sooo passé. 

[jsn55]

12 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Yes, but weirdly it seems to be perfectly acceptable to sit on a lounger facing the sea while reading a book, while it is totally unacceptable to sit on a lounger facing the sea while using one's phone.

 

This is really simple.  People sitting on loungers reading books don't make any noise.  People sitting on loungers talking on a phone make noise.  I've never met anyone who enjoys listening to someone else's conversation.  I was reminded of another thing about cell phones this morning.  People stopping dead in the middle of hallways to talk on their phone.  This morning i saw 3 of them yapping away, blocking the whole hallway.   At the airport they're impossible. 

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, jsn55 said:

This is really simple.  People sitting on loungers reading books don't make any noise.  People sitting on loungers talking on a phone make noise.  I've never met anyone who enjoys listening to someone else's conversation.

 

I was talking about using a phone in the sense of using it as a reading device. (Hence the equivalence to a book.)

 

Nine-tenths of what people do on their phones now is not having a phone conversation. 

 

And yes, I have definitely read comments from people here on CC about the "sad" people who sit looking at their phones instead of at the ocean.  Yet no one ever questions anyone who is doing the same thing with a book in hand....

 

 

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Nine-tenths of what people do on their phones now is not having a phone conversation. 

 

And yes, I have definitely read comments from people here on CC about the "sad" people who sit looking at their phones instead of at the ocean.  Yet no one ever questions anyone who is doing the same thing with a book in hand....

Not to mention the fact that my phone is my camera. I might be looking at the photo I just took to determine if I need to take another.

[ldubs]

14 hours ago, jsn55 said:

This is really simple.  People sitting on loungers reading books don't make any noise.  People sitting on loungers talking on a phone make noise.  I've never met anyone who enjoys listening to someone else's conversation.  I was reminded of another thing about cell phones this morning.  People stopping dead in the middle of hallways to talk on their phone.  This morning i saw 3 of them yapping away, blocking the whole hallway.   At the airport they're impossible. 

 

Someone who doesn't like to hear others probably should reconsider putting themselves on a crowded cruise ship where they are likely to have to endure other people talking.  Unless of course, it is just talking (yapping) on a cell phone that causes so much distress.  

[mom says]

15 hours ago, jsn55 said:

This is really simple.  People sitting on loungers reading books don't make any noise.  People sitting on loungers talking on a phone make noise.  I've never met anyone who enjoys listening to someone else's conversation.  I was reminded of another thing about cell phones this morning.  People stopping dead in the middle of hallways to talk on their phone.  This morning i saw 3 of them yapping away, blocking the whole hallway.   At the airport they're impossible. 

People....talking on a phone make noise. Well,  DUH. People talking to other people in person make noise, too. If you dislike hearing conversations by other cruisers, you are going to have a difficult time in public areas of most ships. I suggest you hole up in your cabin for the duration. Or just haunt the ship during the wee hours.

 

Three people blocking the whole hallway? Were they standing shoulder to shoulder (to shoulder)? What are the odds that 3 people would be standing 3 abreast and be talking on the phone at the same time! You should have taken a photo, because I'm pretty sure that would be a rarity. And let us know which airport is so afflicted by stationary passengers on their phones that they are so badly affecting passengers movements.  I'd like to avoid those. 

[jsn55]

7 hours ago, mom says said:

People....talking on a phone make noise. Well,  DUH. People talking to other people in person make noise, too. If you dislike hearing conversations by other cruisers, you are going to have a difficult time in public areas of most ships. I suggest you hole up in your cabin for the duration. Or just haunt the ship during the wee hours.

 

Three people blocking the whole hallway? Were they standing shoulder to shoulder (to shoulder)? What are the odds that 3 people would be standing 3 abreast and be talking on the phone at the same time! You should have taken a photo, because I'm pretty sure that would be a rarity. And let us know which airport is so afflicted by stationary passengers on their phones that they are so badly affecting passengers movements.  I'd like to avoid those. 

OKKAAAAAAAAAYYY!  I give up, let people on cell phones do whatever they want, I'll not try to get people to see reality any more ... I give up.   Y'all win, I'll never say another word about loud people with cell phones.  Probably won't say a word about the lack of good manners these days either.  I'll just ignore it all. 

[ldubs]

On 8/17/2022 at 5:52 AM, Mum2Mercury said:

I'm thinking of my high school students, but many adults are the same: 

 

They don't just carry the phone around to use now and then -- they keep their phones "out" all day long.  They carry them in their hands between classes, they hide them under papers on their desk or under their leg because being unaware of a text, even for a short time, is not acceptable.  No one reads a paper 8-10 hours a day, but well over half of my high school students would happily waste their entire day texting and playing games on their phones -- if I didn't get in the way with my pesky idea of learning.  Whereas in the past kids sat around the lunch table talking with friends, today we see groups of kids who sit down with their phones and don't talk to the people next to them.  When I was a new teacher, the halls were LOUD at the end of the day as students piled out into the halls and called out to friends as they left the building -- the end of the school day was energetic and joyful; today it's almost silent as kids catch up on what's gone on in cyber-space during their last class, and all the kids walk out with their heads bowed over their phones.  It's weird to chaperone a school dance now; at any given time, a third of the students are sitting at tables on their phones -- and this is at an event they'd anticipated, bought special clothes for.  Kids who finish their first assignments early are fussy if they're not allowed to play on their phones -- they even say things like, "What do you expect me to do without my phone?"  They don't think about starting the next assignment or just talking to someone.  And we can't forget cyber-bullying; kids can bully one another 24/7 now -- this is a frequent issue at school.  Parents, this is all scary.  

 

At the same time, more and more students say they have no friends -- screen time is stealing away our teens' social skills.  More and more kids say they're anxious or depressed; fewer say they feel connected to their school or classmates.   

 

It's not that the phones themselves are a problem -- it's that the kids' lack of balance between phones and real life is a problem.  In my three decades of teaching I've always known kids who were obsessed over sports, their boyfriends, whatever -- but today a majority of our kids are obsessed with their phones.  It's the obsession, not the phones, that is the problem.  

 

Okay, that didn't have much to do with cruising, but I am genuinely concerned about the over-use of phones today.  

 

So, how does an educator deal with the fact that the way people, especially young people, socialize has changed dramatically?  I hope our youths learn to not blindly accept everything they read on the little screens.   

 

I could never do what you do, especially with high schoolers.  I just don't have enough patience, nor the "gift" that is needed to be good at it.     

[klfrodo]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 I hope our youths learn to not blindly accept everything they read on the little screens.   

  

I'm thinking HS students deal with it MUCH better than so called adults.

[ldubs]

On 8/21/2022 at 1:31 PM, klfrodo said:

I'm thinking HS students deal with it MUCH better than so called adults.

 

Yeah, the tech is certainly a part of their lives and they are comfortable with it.   I hope they learn the pitfalls, especially when it comes to making decisions based on bad info.  I'm happy to say that the young adults (not teens) in our family seem to have a good balance.   

 

  

[cruisemom42]

7 hours ago, ldubs said:

I'm happy to say that the young adults (not teens) in our family seem to have a good balance.   

 

And I think, by and large, that is true of most of them.

 

This reminds me a bit of when my DS was younger, e.g., the middle school and high school years. I had a good friend who didn't have kids of her own but who would watch all of the TV news and the afternoon talk shows (like Oprah) and would proceed to warn me about all the crazy things that kids were doing and that I needed to be constantly on guard. To listen to her, you'd think all teens were sexting, taking their parents' prescription drugs (not to mention Tide pods...)due to Youtube videos and cyber-bullying each other. 

 

DS (now late 20s) and I talked about this just recently. He says not one person he knew of was doing any of the crazy things she brought up to me.  He's old enough now that I believe him, lol. 

 

The media likes to hype everything -- maybe it is the adults who need to learn about not blindly accepting things!!

[navybankerteacher]

On 8/20/2022 at 1:41 PM, mom says said:

…

 

Three people blocking the whole hallway? Were they standing shoulder to shoulder (to shoulder)? What are the odds that 3 people would be standing 3 abreast and be talking on the phone at the same time! …

Many ships’ corridors can be partially blocked by one person standing in the middle— two or more create an effective dam.

[ldubs]

I heard they had to shut down the promenade deck and all of terminal 2 at the airport because of people on cell phones.  😀

[donaldsc]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:41 AM, mom says said:

People....talking on a phone make noise. Well,  DUH. People talking to other people in person make noise, too. If you dislike hearing conversations by other cruisers, you are going to have a difficult time in public areas of most ships. I suggest you hole up in your cabin for the duration. Or just haunt the ship during the wee hours.

 

Three people blocking the whole hallway? Were they standing shoulder to shoulder (to shoulder)? What are the odds that 3 people would be standing 3 abreast and be talking on the phone at the same time! You should have taken a photo, because I'm pretty sure that would be a rarity. And let us know which airport is so afflicted by stationary passengers on their phones that they are so badly affecting passengers movements.  I'd like to avoid those. 

 

When I am blocked by multiple people in a hall way I get behind them and say in a loud annoying voice "excuse me - I want to get by you".  They sometimes actually move.

 

I have one great idea to handle the GREAT CELL PHONE CONTROVERSY .  In addition to having designated smoking areas on the ship we should also have designated cell phone areas.  We then install cell phone jammers in the rest of the ship.

 

Before anyone jumps on me - I am not being serious about this idea.  Or am I?

 

DON

[ldubs]

16 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

When I am blocked by multiple people in a hall way I get behind them and say in a loud annoying voice "excuse me - I want to get by you".  They sometimes actually move.

 

I have one great idea to handle the GREAT CELL PHONE CONTROVERSY .  In addition to having designated smoking areas on the ship we should also have designated cell phone areas.  We then install cell phone jammers in the rest of the ship.

 

Before anyone jumps on me - I am not being serious about this idea.  Or am I?

 

DON

 

Problem is one would have to look at the app on their cell phone to identify those areas.  

[wcook]

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

The media likes to hype everything -- maybe it is the adults who need to learn about not blindly accepting things!!

So many media reports on the problems of the current generation of kids. But if I look at my friends, family, co-workers all their kids seem to be doing just fine. OK, not 100%, there’s always going to be a few difficult kids. But certainly no more than when I was a kid. I feel pretty good about the future. 

[jsn55]

7 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Problem is one would have to look at the app on their cell phone to identify those areas.  

Looking's OK.

[jsn55]

7 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

When I am blocked by multiple people in a hall way I get behind them and say in a loud annoying voice "excuse me - I want to get by you".  They sometimes actually move.

 

I have one great idea to handle the GREAT CELL PHONE CONTROVERSY .  In addition to having designated smoking areas on the ship we should also have designated cell phone areas.  We then install cell phone jammers in the rest of the ship.

 

Before anyone jumps on me - I am not being serious about this idea.  Or am I?

 

DON

I think this is a wonderful idea, put 'em all in one area and let them yak to their hearts' content.  Since I observe multiple people standing out of the way murmuring a conversation, I have to wonder if all the loud ones think that they're not really using a phone, but they must talk very loudly to be understood.  I also have a great time walking up behind people blocking a passage to bellow "EXCUSE ME" and they MOVE.  I think it's that voice I developed training the most aggressive dog in the world ... stands me in good stead occasionally. 

[ldubs]

If I need to get around someone I say excuse me in a calm polite voice.  Works every time.  There is little need to bellow.