OPINION: Are smart phones killing conversation?

WHEN I see people looking down into their mobile phone rather than sitting and talking to the person opposite them, it depresses me.

ARE smart phones killing our ability to communicate face to face?

When I see people looking down into their mobile phone rather than sitting and talking to the person opposite them, it depresses me.

Is the person, or item of news, on the phone actually more interesting than then one you are with?

The current internet generation would rather do almost anything else than actually have to talk to a live person in front of them, let alone make a phone call to a REAL person.

I don't know how many times I've urged one of my teenagers to phone someone and instead got the reply: "I'll just message him/her".

Smart phones are turning us into a generation of navel gazing introverts.

The other way of looking at that is perhaps we are just all tech savvy extroverts.

I fear we may eventually lose our ability to communicate with each other verbally altogether.

Because if you can't swipe it, or paywave it, or do it online these days, it's considered old fashioned and not worth it.

A few years ago a mature age student friend of mine was lamenting the fact the younger students doing her university course actually handed in assignments that contained texting acronyms like OMG and LOL.

What's worse is the teacher in charge actually marked these assignments and handed them back.

Rather than sharing a selfie to your followers on FB, Insta or Twitter, how about sharing some of yourself with the person next to you each and every day.