Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal ( which I won’t link to because it’s behind a pay well ) about how Gen Z and Millennials don’t make phone calls because that’s “ rude” but will open a video chat then throw their phone down so that only “ video” is of the ceiling then spend hours with an open line doing things like surfing social media or doing homework or cleaning their room while also chatting from time to time. They often leave the chat open while going down to dinner then come back to it.
And here I thought it was just my kids who do this. How about yours?
Is it suppose to mimic being in the same house/room? Never heard of it - and none of my 3 have done it with me! Does that leave your phone tied up with the video chat too?
Hahaha. Mr. and I do that, too, when he travels. Like at 8 pm when I am feeding my avatars and tidying up the kitchen and he is relaxing in his hotel room after a long day of work. It is not just for millennials.
My D21 has Skype open on her laptop for hours with friends while doing homework, eating etc. They will chat on and off as if they are in the same house, but each going about their day.
She doesn’t do it every day, and it’s only with her closest friends. I think she likes the company, and they do help each other when questions arise in their schoolwork.
Sometimes, I’m wondering where music is coming from and it turns out it’s D21’s friend’s music.
I guess I’m confused…so for example…does your D Facetime you on her phone to your phone - so your phone is connected to Facetime - and then she leaves the Facetime going for however long - so your cell phone is also running Facetime all that time??
It’s not important just trying to explain what I was trying to understand!
@abasket This isn’t something my kids do to me. Ever. It’s something they do with friends. And apparently, according to WSJ article, quite common among millennials/gen z. Both parties have FT open for long periods of time.
Here’s how I experienced when DD was at home
Me walking into DD room seeing her putting away laundry: “Do you want salmon for dinner”
DD: Long discussion about the meal as she put away laundry. Then a disembodied voice “ which shoes should I wear with this dress?”
DD walks over to phone lying on her bed peers at it says “ the wedges “ then puts phone on bed again and carries in with folding laundry and talking to me.
DV ( disembodied voice) “Is that your mom? Hi!!!
Me “Um hi ( mouthing to DD…Who is that”
DD: “Julia my mom wants to know who you are…it’s my sorority big sis Mom.” “Do you want to go shopping tomorrow”
Me : Are you talking to me?
DD:” yeah of course” and then proceeds to have long discussion about shopping with me while Julia is apparently doing her own thing. Then she’ll say something like “Julia do you want to go to the FROYO place after I’m done shopping with my mom” and the two will start talking again.
I only use WeChat for video chatting and with that app you can switch from video to Audio-only to save on bandwidth if someone goes into the “see the ceiling” mode.
I believe that calls can come thru on all chatting apps, so no the phone won’t get blocked. On the WeChat end though, the WeChat call will end though when a call comes in which can be a bit annoying since 50% of the calls I get are spam.
Skype and Face also let you turn off the video while keeping the audio on (or one can mute the sound… no need for my husband to hear the cat hacking up her dinner ?)… And yes, calls do come through.
My eldest will do this but with a regular phone call. He puts me on speaker and carries on with homework, TA stuff, making dinner. It makes me crazy! He’s listening but also doing his own thing so he often takes a while to answer questions etc and I’m never sure if he’s still “with me”.
The WSJ article said that not only did young people view it as rude to call most people unless there was some sort of understanding between the people that they’d do this but also that “when the phone rings unexpectedly, they assume someone has died.” !!!
DD’19 used to do the video thing with a friend in middle school. That way she could do what she wanted and occasionally just say “uh-huh” as her friend talked and talked. Now both my girls will sometimes regular-call us and we’ll be on speaker phone for a long time, not always conversing, but there. Went as long as 4 hours once with DD’17- had her on the line at home, took her “with us” to the bakery and to my sister’s house… DD’19 was on speaker yesterday for 2 hours.
“I see how some might see a phone call as desirable, but I don’t get why it would be considered “rude.””
My kid explained it this way: “You know how in the olden days people used to “call” on others by going to their houses but then that became sonething you wouldn’t do…just show up at someone’s house…like that would be rude. Well for us a phone call is like that. You don’t do that unless you’ve set it up in advance or have an understanding that you call each other because you are super close friends…even then we almost always text first to see if the person is available .”
