Phone Archives - Newport Manners

My Boyfriend — The Texter — Relationships
Creative Etiquette Solutions

My Boyfriend — The Texter — Relationships

With Valentine’s Day approaching, I’m contemplating dropping my boyfriend ‘the Texter,’ as my friends call him, because he prefers a 2-D relationship to spending real time with me. I want to tell him face to face that occasional sexting doesn’t compensate for warm and cuddly or spontaneous conversation. I want to read his facial expressions and interpret the tone of his voice. Is that too much to ask from someone who he calls me his girlfriend?

–AGT, Brooklyn, NY

Think of texting as maintenance. Obviously there is a right way of texting to strengthen your relationship and knowing there's a wrong way that only creates distance. There are things you shouldn't be texting about. For instance new information that could leave one of you wondering during the downtime, when you're not texting, that something is new or amiss. Just because you can tell anything to anyone at anytime doesn't mean you necessarily should. For instance, if you had applied for a new dream job that came through and he waited a couple of hours to text back "Gratz!" Wouldn't you be annoyed that he waited so long and didn't seem as thrilled as you would have liked him to be, if you had waited to tell him in person? Level with him. You're not on the same playing field. You're looking for romance and he's still into his x-box. Maybe it is time to move on. Tell him how you feel. Set guidelines about spending time together. Tell him you both have to save the important conversations like your acing your dream job -- or wanting to break up with him because you you two don't get enough face time -- so that he can see your glow when you're with him, or you his disappointment that you're dumping him.

~Didi

My Girlfriend Has A Weird Addiction to Social Media
Creative Etiquette Solutions

My Girlfriend Has A Weird Addiction to Social Media

What do I say to my live-in girlfriend who has a weird addiction to social media? She is obsessed with her phone and iPad. Checks them all the time for updates when out to dinner on a date, during a movie, even in church at her uncle’s funeral. I’m feeling there are three of us in this relationship?

–John, Los Angeles, CA

It is OK to be worried. 52% of fatal crashes are cellphone-related. This may seem like an addiction, but it isn't one. It is social interaction. Your girlfriend conducts her social life via text. Whether we like it or not, smartphones have become amazingly valuable as extensions of ourselves on an unconscious level. Glued to the palms of our hands, the phone has become the way we connect with the world and the people in it. For better or for worse cellphones have become our voice when we wish to communicate. Not only have they become our brains for accessing instant information, but our memory for schedules and contact info, photos and videos that we record and store, etc.. Stuff that otherwise would not not have been recorded and saved. Sometimes a cellphone seems to be more important than a romantic partner. Nonetheless, even when cellphones are nor being used, their mere presence divides attention, which is why banning them on dates would not make sense. She would still be wondering what she was missing. The solution is to bargain for compromise. They are there, but you don't use them while you're having dinner, nor do they vibrate in bed. Talking about the problem will help you two sort this out. Watching a movie, give her the option to ignore the call or text or go in the other room to respond. Set up guidelines, just the way you do with figuring out housekeeping and who does what in the relationship.

~Didi

Cell phones in restaurants
Creative Etiquette Solutions

Cell phones in restaurants

I may be just a lowly waitress but it kills me seeing couples out on a date too emotionally attached to their cell phones to talk to each other. I have a hard time getting their attention to take the order. I ask myself, What’s wrong with this picture? We’ve talked to the manager about banning cell phones because we like to move customers along, but he says that’s not going to happen because everyone texts anyway. Whether they’re checking out the weather or ordering from J. Crew, it is rude to keep us waiting. Any etiquette advice?

–Aggie, Middletown, RI

Since over 90% of US adults have a cell phone (according to the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Study) its usage is the norm and in étiquette we have to adapt. This may or may not work, because many of us mortals identify our cell phones as part of our persona. Try to make eye contact. Tell the customers you'll be back in five minutes to take their orders. When you return ask, "May I, please, take your order?" and when they don't answer, add, "Do you have any questions about the menu?" Get their mouths watering in anticipation by making recommendations. Changing their focus to food and drink may start them talking to each other. Remember, cell phone usage is an emerging form of social interaction: we increasingly live across the internet and airwaves. There are times when it may be necessary to get onto their wave length.

~Didi

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