Was invited out to dinner with the family and extended for a reunion and could not believe what went down with the whole time we were there ,everyone soon as they sat down the first thing they did was pull out their phones and i pads and throughout the whole evening hardly anyone spoke and if they did they had the device in their hand taping and swiping away or on the phone , even while they were eating . I looked around the room and most tables were doing the same .

My son wanted to play with his cousins but they were to interested in their games and would not leave the table . So we ate and left early and now my wife's sisters have called and are not happy we walked out , so my wife explained the situation and was told it's normal

I think to your wife's sister the main thing was that you were there and should have stayed regardless of what everyone was or wasn't doing, just to be part of the group. It's kind of like at family get-togethers at Christmas, when a grandparent or uncle can often be found sleeping through most of the proceedings in an armchair. The point is they're there.

Edited September 24, 201213 yr by 15Peter20

pretty dam_n common these days. i see families all the time where each is buried in their screen. it seems pretty crappy to be a kid these days.

Pretty common everywhere, especially in HiSo places.

Young couples in coffee shops, man pays, girl chats. Or both play silly games.

This is a country with very little intellectual development. Nothing to talk other than simple things. Nobody reads a book and nobody is interested in anything.

Very different to Farangland, where it is rare to see people playing with their gadgets in restaurants and people still have interesting things to talk.

I had quite the experience a couple of weeks ago.I was having coffee in my usual coffee shop and at a table near me a woman was doing something with what I think is am iPad. I had to walk behind her to get something I noticed I was being displayed on her large screen. I waved my hands in front of me trying to let her know I didnot want her to video me or show me online. She got angry at me because she thought I was trying to get into her picture rather than out. She was in her opinion HI So because she could sit in a cafe with her iPad and took offence I simply ignored her and she finally left. That really gets under my skin. If I wanted the world to see me I would do it myself not have it done by someone I never met before or donot even know. I considered it an invasion of privacy.

I like the op see it as rather odd not normal the usage of these devices every where. I feel it is only normal to those with a real life.

Why not tell them next time you'd prefer a skype online meeting...............may as well.

I tired of watching "apparent" hi-sos hunched over their "sigh" pads hoping the world is noticing them.

At 10 inches they aint exactly a good size, I should go over and pull out my 7.7 inch galaxy tab, much more portable

I feel exactly the same, my two young niece's come to eat with us at a restaurant and they have always got their faces buried in the phones or texting etc. I banned them in the end (the phones), the phones have to be left in the car now when we arrive at the restaurant.

I find the whole phone/texting/etc stuff is ignorant when used like that in company.

Here's something I did in the US with friends.

We stacked our phones, ipods, whatever off to the side. The first person to pick theirs up, pays the bill.

It shows how old most Thaivisa posters are. Its quite normal even back home. I don't like it much but i have a ipad too and i love it. I still prefer normal conversations but when we are on a holliday with my parents we all use them reading books on them playing games. But we still all have fun together. My mom and dad even love the ipad but there is a time to use it and a time when not to use it.

there is a time to use it and a time when not to use it.

Bingo . . .

This is a country with very little intellectual development. Nothing to talk other than simple things. Nobody reads a book and nobody is interested in anything.

there is a time to use it and a time when not to use it.

Bingo . . .

Of course, its not a good thing to start using it when others want to be social. But i can be just as unsocial with a book as with an ipad. Though now i read 90% of my books on the ipad.

What a bunch of whingy old farts..

Me and wifey go out to dinner, she burries her head in her iphone, I bury mine in my android.

Dinner comes, we smash it down as quick as we can, hardly a word said and then we go home and watch tv.

Perfect!

I hate the dam_n things. If I owned a restaurant I would not allow mobiles or ipads to be turned on in the restaurant.

I too, see the same thing all the time; entire families sitting at a table and nobody talking or interacting with one another. Instead everyone is looking at facebook.com or something; immersed in their own world. How pathetic things have become in the electronic age.

I hate the dam_n things. If I owned a restaurant I would not allow mobiles or ipads to be turned on in the restaurant.

I too, see the same thing all the time; entire families sitting at a table and nobody talking or interacting with one another. Instead everyone is looking at facebook.com or something; immersed in their own world. How pathetic things have become in the electronic age.

good luck with that business plan

Pretty common everywhere, especially in HiSo places.

Young couples in coffee shops, man pays, girl chats. Or both play silly games.

This is a country with very little intellectual development. Nothing to talk other than simple things. Nobody reads a book and nobody is interested in anything.

Very different to Farangland, where it is rare to see people playing with their gadgets in restaurants and people still have interesting things to talk.

I see where you are comng from but there is endless enthusiasm for sanook shopping sex and money,fairly low in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

There are Thais who read thats why there are bookshops,manga and comics I agree fill large sheves.

While Muay Thai Bhuddist festivals or family dinners may not be yourr thing they seem more content than many more affluent nations.Of course if you seek wit hyperbole ,intellectual rigour and are not my wife ! there is always TD and the virtual Left Bank.

You are cordially invited to sit around the wireless with a Nostalgiachino if you pass by dressed as Santa 25 Dec, Miao may eve leave milk n cookies to guide you.

Non illigitimus Carborundum

The Village Voice went free and you can access more Music than the royasl can afford at the touch of switch.Oncce voice to text ends sms and Twatter I predict illiteracy will predominate as an anachronism like me typewriters,mangles and spitoons

i sympathize with the OP, i would have left too.

Few months ago an old friend was visiting, we were sitting in the garden sharing some beers.

For 3 quarters of the time he was on the telephone, talking silly things with his friends in Europe, so after 1 hour i had enough, and he look surprised and a bit indignant when i told him to leave...<deleted> !!!

If i had been in his house, i would have left after 20 minutes..It's not about age, it's about politeness and respect.

It's fine if you use technology, if you let technology use you, you are a slave of technology and an idiot IMHO.

A cell phone blocker with the size of a marlboro cigarett close the cell phone signal in area of around 100 meter you can buy cheap in hongkong!

All restaurants in Thailand have always loud tv during dinner!

To solve this problem I using old Casio tv watch and switch off the tv in secounds, That I can enjoy my dinner!

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

I have a work colleague, Thai lady, single, early thirties, has 3 mobile phones and 2 ipads, plus notebook computer, all of these items never leave her side 24 hrs a day, she's really hooked.

In restaurants she gets scolded continuously by other Thai colleagues and her Thai boss, her 3 phones never stop ringing, plus she's continuously updating her facebook page on one ipad and updating another similar site (called pasu or something similar, 99% same as facebook).

She records every tiny detail of her life on facebook, what time she will arrive at work, arrive at the restaurant, what she ate, what time she will arrive home (she lives alone), etc.

Thai boss often takes groups of staff to meals to discuss marketing issues etc., this lady never contrbutes to the work discussions, too busy on the phone.

In her car she's on mobile all the time, often two mobiles, plus she prepares updates for facebook whilst she's driving.

She is progressively alienating herself from her work colleagues, and work friends tell me her personal friends / old uni friends now never invite her to meals etc.

The thing is, it is only going to get worse. Give it another 10 years and you will probably do everything from some kind of online pod with VR and a soundproof lining.

What I have big issues with is when the family come into my living room whilst I am watching TV and then turn the music on in the ipod or phone. No headphones, just music blaring out trying to drown out the tv while they chatter at the same time. Can't they see I am watching TV? Go listen to music and gossip in the next room.

Invest in Google.

This addictive behavior isn't going away.

^^^

As Tuky said, it is only going to get worse. Wait until voice recognizion becomes the norm for all these devices; no more key tapping, just shouting at the fcukin' things.

Going to really enjoy eating out then!!.......

I hate the dam_n things. If I owned a restaurant I would not allow mobiles or ipads to be turned on in the restaurant.

I too, see the same thing all the time; entire families sitting at a table and nobody talking or interacting with one another. Instead everyone is looking at facebook.com or something; immersed in their own world. How pathetic things have become in the electronic age.

There is a restaurant in Pattaya where the menu is presented on an iPad !

igizmos are annoying I agree but whinging about them probably won't have much effect. They will all be out of fashion in a year or two anyway but the bad news is what ever replaces them will probably be more annoying.

I guess this is the new sociable

It is rather sad to watch.

The other day in a nice restaurant my wife & I were

sitting on a table next to an older Thai woman & what seemed to be her

30 something daughter. During the whole meal I do not think the daughter said

two words to the mom. Instead she was on her Ipad the whole time.

Once after eating she did ask the mom if she wanted some tea.

When it came she held out her cup to her mom without looking up

from the Ipad for her mom to pour her a cup.

What was sad to watch was the mom sitting during the whole meal

looking around. It was an odd picture of loneliness in a crowded room.

Wait until technology allows us talk to holograms of each other. May get a little crowded when the people on the next table decide to have a chat with all their facebook friends

I remember years ago reading an article in which the writer described seeing two people out on a date and both engrossed with texting on their phones. This must have been about 10 years ago or so. I think it will get progressively worse and worse with people hooked on their devices like a drug.

To the OP, I don't blame you for leaving. In a situation like that, just politely make your excuses and leave. Nothing is worse than sitting around expecting some nice dinner conversation and most people cannot be bothered to put down their devices for an hour or so.

I remember years ago reading an article in which the writer described seeing two people out on a date and both engrossed with texting on their phones. This must have been about 10 years ago or so. I think it will get progressively worse and worse with people hooked on their devices like a drug.

To the OP, I don't blame you for leaving. In a situation like that, just politely make your excuses and leave. Nothing is worse than sitting around expecting some nice dinner conversation and most people cannot be bothered to put down their devices for an hour or so.

If someone has to take a call during dinner at a restaurant, I would prefer that they leave the table rather than carry on a conversation in front of everyone else. To me it's the height of rudeness.

Slightly tangental to the subject; I found it quite an amusing scene at the Singapore F1 to see so many in the stands holding up their Ipads to video the cars going by. Don't people buy camera's any more?

Maybe ironic that so many people are addicted to these facebook type of social network sites that they are losing the ability for social networking face to face.

Pathetic!