17.
“Scrolling on your phone while hanging out with someone.”
“I have a friend who would do this all the time, so I would stop talking to see how long it took them to notice; usually, a minute or two. So now, when I see them take out their phone, I’ll take mine out and text them what I was going to say. The first time I did that, it shook them.
It helped for a little while, but they eventually got back to it. So I stopped hanging out with them. Two-ish weeks later, they messaged me and asked if everything was alright. I asked them if they remembered our last conversation (it was about them being on their phone all the time when we were doing stuff), and they couldn’t remember.
I told them, ‘It’s because you never pay attention to anything but your phone when we hang out.’
They got the hint. This was last year. When we hang out now, I see them actively policing their phone usage. The last time we were mid-conversation, they asked me a question, and as I was answering, they started to reach for their phone, but then pulled their hand back and looked me in the eye.
I hate to have to be the phone police, but it’s impossible to just talk to some people.”