My New Pet Peeve!!

[jaredkari]

My wife and I just got back from WDW yesterday and we have found our new pet peeve at the parks.... TEXTING!!!!!

I realize communication is important but when you are at WDW I thought it was supposed to be a family vacation and good times spent together. We were at the pool at Caribbean Beach and saw an entire family sitting around a table at the pool all texting. Father, Mother, Daughter and Son all had their cell phones out and weren't looking or talking to each other, just texting. On SpaceShip Earth we rode behind a girl that texted the entire ride!!! It was hilarious, here we were going this amazing star filled sky and she had her nose buried in her cell phone never looked up once, why did she wait in line for the attaction?!?!?!

I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me, it is everyones right to spend enormous amounts of money so that they can spend their vacation texting friends from Disney World. Ok I will get off my soapbox now.

[nicster]

I know what you mean about the whole texting thing. DH & I are empty nesters, our kids grew up & left home well before cell phones were so common. Last August we went to Maui with some friends & two teens, we couldn't believe how often those two were texting! Now, don't get me wrong, I text. I love the convenience of it, I was even responding to an inquiry last night while in the restaurant. My responses are a quick reply, not an entire conversation... and certainly not in the Happiest Place on Earth!!!!

[Gregandmel]

Heck - that sort of stuff happens everywhere! My husband and I went out to dinner to a really nice, expensive dinner, and an entire family sat next to us "doing their own thing". Mom was reading a book, son was listening to his i-pod, daughter was texting and dad was looking bored. When their food came - NO conversation at all.

We went to Disney last October and our rule for our then-17 year old was: leave the phone at the resort. I explained that he could text & talk for an hour or two when we returned, but then he had to put it away again until it was close to bedtime.

It's really their loss......too many wonderful things to see and do in Disney!!

[TheVBs]

It's something I just don't get either. I completly understand the choice to have cell phones to communicate if you are splitting up in the parks. But chatting or texting a lot while you're missing out on a ride, the scenery or most important - family time? What a waste.

[MNNHFLTX]

I wouldn't exactly call it a pet peeve, but I am amazed how many teens are constantly texting while in the parks. I've noted girls in particular do this a lot. While my son carries his phone with him, he rarely checks for or responds to messages while at WDW.

[It'sWDW4me]

I can completely relate. Back in 2006 my mom, 2 brothers (16 & 10 at the time), brother's friend (16), my son (10), and I spent a week at POP. My brother's friend was excited for his first trip to the world but was sooooooo upset about spending an entire week away from his girlfriend. He wound up texting as he walked through MK, texting during Hoop De Doo, texting on rides, locking himself in the bathroom until all hours of the night texting and chatting with the love of his life. This last one especially ticked me off because it was almost impossible to wake him up and get out of the rooms in the morning PLUS he slept through the entire driving portion of the Kennedy Space Center tour. What a complete waste of time and $. Well, a few months later they broke up and he realized what an experience he blew while his head was in his phone!

I don't get it. I go to WDW to place reality on hold and have a great time with my family. Why muddy up the fantasy by letting the rest of the world slip in even for a moment?

[prprincess]

I can totally understand where you are coming from.

Hubby and I have an agreement--no emails or texts when we are on vacation. He's on call 24/7 so we do allow the work-related messages, but nothing else. When we go on vacation we like to get away from it ALL, so I sometimes don't understand the need to be connected ALL of the time.

[vicster]

Why would you even want your cell phone on while you're on vacation? I go on vacation to get away from all that.

[JPL]

I have my phone with me on my trips but just use it to keep in touch with the people I am with or people I am meeting up with. I often meet up with a few Intercotees and it's so much easier to call and ask where they are or say I am over by the _________.

As for the texting people they are constantly texting and walking and never paying attention to where they are going. It really amzes me when I see people walking in a crowd with their head down focused on a little screen and keyboard.

[bretski99]

At the risk of getting shot down here, I am going to weigh in with a dissenting opinion about texting.

Before I give it you should know that am 43 years old, do not communicating by text, and have a 14 year old son that constantly texts. In fact, I called the relationship with his first real girlfriend a "two thumb" relationship (meaning it was all about him clicking away, chatting with her over texts).

The question I would ask is: if texting were available when you all were teens, would you have used it? I agree seeing adults do it sometimes looks wierd (much like a mom wearing a Hannah Montana tee-shirt would look wierd). But for teens, this is the number one way they communicate. Do I tell him to turn it off sometimes? Yep. It's not allowed at the dinner table (especially in a restaurant). That said, I personally don't see any difference between this, and the fact that the entire baby boomer generation started watching too much television back in the 50's and 60's, much to the chagrin of their parents.

Personally I think this is a generation gap issue.

Now, should people texting while driving, or stopping in front of me while texting (and I'm trying to walk) be a pet peeve? Absolutely. But it's not about the texting. It's about people doing it. If they weren't texting, they'd find something else to occupy their time (at the expense of mine).

[Disney Doll]

It is astounding isn't it. What gets me is the lack of family interaction. I hate seeing families who look like they can barely tolerate each others' company. When you are texting all day it kind of says that you prefer the person on the phone to the person you are with. Rude IMHO.

[nicster]

At the risk of getting shot down here, I am going to weigh in with a dissenting opinion about texting.

Before I give it you should know that am 43 years old, do not communicating by text, and have a 14 year old son that constantly texts. In fact, I called the relationship with his first real girlfriend a "two thumb" relationship (meaning it was all about him clicking away, chatting with her over texts).

The question I would ask is: if texting were available when you all were teens, would you have used it? I agree seeing adults do it sometimes looks weird (much like a mom wearing a Hannah Montana tee-shirt would look weird). But for teens, this is the number one way they communicate. Do I tell him to turn it off sometimes? Yep. It's not allowed at the dinner table (especially in a restaurant). That said, I personally don't see any difference between this, and the fact that the entire baby boomer generation started watching too much television back in the 50's and 60's, much to the chagrin of their parents.

Personally I think this is a generation gap issue.

Now, should people texting while driving, or stopping in front of me while texting (and I'm trying to walk) be a pet peeve? Absolutely. But it's not about the texting. It's about people doing it. If they weren't texting, they'd find something else to occupy their time (at the expense of mine).

I get the generation thing... it's the texting DURING a family meal, a ride at WDW or while some other pleasant reality is going on that peeves me. Yes, we (baby boomers) watched way too much TV growing up, but we did not take it with us.

[jimsgal05]

the texting has taken over the way people interact with eachother... Sad...I don't have aproblem with texting but there is a time and a place family time, vaction time, meal time isn't the time... I blame the parents. my daughter 14 has a cell phone and texts but thre is a limit...time limit too!! and there wou;d be NO way in WDW she would be allowed!

[dizneefan67]

Ok, since it's my 42nd birthdy today I ant to add my worth on this subject....

First of all, WELL SAID Bretski, I am sure the other posts don't mean to tear down the texter as much as the texting! I agree with most of them in it s a pet peeve because you know that if they are doing it on vacation in WDW, then they are 9 chances out of 10 doing it while driving, which is another issue!
My issue with texting isn't the fact that teens and adult s do it, like you said, its doing and not paying attention to your surroundings and therefore, running into people and annoying them on their vacations. Now that being said,
42nd 42nd
TO ME!


Have a great Day Intercotees!

Will

[BluewaterBrad]

I say the same thing, but I dont let it bother me. My WDW vacations are an escape for me. My cell stays at the resort!!

[ThanxForNoticin]

At the risk of getting shot down here, I am going to weigh in with a dissenting opinion about texting.

I'm going to put myself on the 'firing line' with you! Admitting that sometimes it is beyond ridiculous how much (and where and when) people text, overall I think it's not one of the things that bothers me that much.

We all have our peeves, but to me texting is relatively quiet (much better than someone on the cell phone at dinner or on a ride), it doesn't give off an annoying flash, and it doesn't smell (like smokers in line).

With our kids, we most definitely reduce the texting time while on vacation. But for us it's kind of a give and take thing with older teen-agers. They limit the texting to friends on vacation, we don't give them a rough time. Then when we make plans for a restaurant that serves more than burgers and fries, they don't give us a rough time. It really is a new generation, and texting and IM is the thing to be doing. Like I said, there are several things that bother me a lot more than texting fingers.

[vws_and_disney]

when im on vacation i dont want my cellphone anywhere near me. when i land in florida it gets turned off and doesnt get turned on til we land at home. this is also coming from a habitual texter, but i dont want to be bothered on vacation

[disneygeek84]

The only time I text while in WDW is to my family back home to make them jealous of where I am

When we were there last Sept during a bus ride home one night there was a family sitting next to us and the mom made the kids turn the screen light down so that it wouldn't bother anyone around them and made them put the phones up once we got to the resort. I almost thanked her for doing it. She was the only one I saw all week that made her kids put their cell phones away.

[DisneyAggies]

Another one here with a DH that's on call 24/7. Our cell phones stay at the resort while on vacation (except for our vacation 2 years ago when DH's Grandfather was gravely ill--we received word of his passing at via cell).

Otherwise--all emails, pages, whatever are dealt with BEFORE we leave in the AM, when we come back to the resort for nap time, or in the evening when we are done for the day. His out of office message states the windows when he'll be able to return "emergency" only calls.

I might be bringing my cell to the parks this year so that I can journal via facebook, but I'm still not completely committed to that yet!

I DO understand the obsession with texting, but would likely institute some sort of texting ban during certain hours while on vacation (with my own DC). DH and I would lead by example and leave our phones in the room.

[kakn7294]

Why should anyone care if someone else choses to spend there vacation playing with a cell phone? As long as they are not using it in the middle of an attraction and it's not disturbing your experience, who cares? And I would rather have someone next to me texting their way through an attraction rather than having a conversation on that cell phone.