When in doubt…reach for your phone

You sit down to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend and at one point or another your friend needs to dart off to visit little girls’ room. You know they will only be gone for three mins but for some strange reason you think and feel as though those three mins are the longest ever. Now bored and left to your own devices you immediately reach into your pocket and pull out your faithful companion — your cellphone.

There have been countless occasions where I have been that person left in the “awkward zone” waiting for someone to come back from relieving him or herself. Being in a tech-heavy era, my natural instinct would be to unlock my phone and see what is happening in the Twitter/Facebook world. But now that I have noticed this new phenomenon, I choose to watch the other people who seem to scratch this itch.

Where does this habit come from you ask? Are we so insecure that we continuously need an external stimulant to pass the time? Is the online/mobile world so engaging that we suffer from extreme FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) when we have proper human interaction?

Many years ago, when Twitter was but a dream and mobile internet meant walking to an internet café, our time was passed differently. At this point you are probably trying to think of what you did pre-mass networking. Well for one, those who smoked would generally light up a fag in an attempt to kill time (and themselves). For everyone else, we would read. Yes read. Not streaming tweets or status updates. Reader’s Digest in one hand and coffee in the other, we could remain comfortably occupied.

Where many dive into the mobile abyss of networking, I choose to observe these individuals. If you are not familiar with what they look like or have doubts about being one, here are six points that will keep you in the know:

In the first 15 seconds of being alone, they look around with false confidence; their faces say “I know I’m alone but I’m strong enough to look good while waiting … I hope”.
After 15 seconds are up, they reach into the pockets or onto the table in a calm and seamless fashion.
With phone now in hand they look as though something important is taking place on their device.
They look up occasionally; perhaps to see who is looking at them and judging them for being lonely. God forbid you look lonely.
When their coffee partner eventually does return, they will stay on their phones for a few more seconds to show that their mobile attention was really needed.
To reinforce their online findings, they will share any “vital” information with the coffee partner.

Don’t be fooled though, this activity is not limited to coffee dates; the mobile maniac can be spotted in reception areas prior to meetings, in doctors’ waiting rooms and even in a queue at the bank.

Now that you are armed with the knowledge of this habit, use your alone time wisely. When everyone else is looking at their phones, be different and look around and smile because you’ve read this.