The Dissident Dad – Rules for Not Being a Smartphone Zombie

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Watching a 12-year-old with an iPhone is like watching a hen peck away at a fresh handful of chicken scratch. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of rude adults with no manners whatsoever when it comes to cell phones, but watching my niece last week took it to a whole new level. Like a zombie addict, she must have stared at that phone for hours and hours, only taking a break to plug her earphones in to get her iTunes going.

I’ve accepted the fact that for millennials and even baby boomers, there just aren’t smart phone manners. There are no guidelines, no generational precedent… just the two extremes when it comes to mobile device use: either someone is rude or they are not. All I can do is change my own behavior and set a gentlemanly example for my own children.

In my own household, once work is done, my phone either goes in a dresser drawer or is set to airplane mode. I know clients and family probably think I’m an idiot when it comes to responding to a text or answering the phone after business hours, but I have set my own cell phone guidelines. One of which is to never have my children talk to me while I’m starring at a little glass phone. Too many times have I been at a public park and seen children repeatedly trying to get their parents’ attention with little to no success, often getting no response from the parent or just a blank stare as they begrudgingly look up for a moment. Parents push the swing with one hand, and swipe away at Facebook with the other.

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