It has become common knowledge that when you’re out with friends, family, or coworkers that you should probably focus your attention on them and not your phone, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case as we’re sure many of you guys have seen families out for meals, but with all members of the family having their noses buried in their phones or tablets.That being said, while we do know that it is something of a social faux pas, there is a “limit” to what is acceptable, at least according to researchers at the University of Michigan. It has been found that taking calls and replying text messages during meals is more acceptable compared to checking your social media accounts or playing games.
According to Carol Moser, doctoral student at University of Michigan’s school of information, “These results are interesting because they challenge the idea that using your phone during a shared meal is categorically inappropriate. What we find is that attitudes are much more nuanced than that. A quick text or even phone call with your boss might be okay. Watching someone across the table thumb through their Facebook feed, that’s different.”
So why is texting and talking on the phone ok, but social media isn’t? According to the researchers, this is because texting and phones calls might take up less time than scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feeds. We suppose ultimately it’s still a good idea to put your phone down or put it away during meals, but in the event that you have a text to reply to or a phone call to take, maybe this will make you feel less guilty about doing it.