Hello Readers, Linda here. Today I want to talk about a real problem in the Online Dating world today and that is being on your phone when you are on a date. Some examples are the following: not putting your phone on silent, not turning it off, texting constantly, checking your Facebook and Instagram Accounts and the worst, checking your messages from your Online Dating Site. (Yes, this really happens)

This is a hot topic right now in the Dating World because everyone has a smartphone and let’s face it, we are all addicted to our phones we even take them when we go to the bathroom.

Here is one example that I speak about because it happened to me. I was dating a guy for a couple of months when he asked me to go on a mini vacation to the river. I went and to my surprise, he was on his phone texting non-stop even while he was driving home. I cannot tell you how infuriated I was. It was so rude and let’s say he didn’t score any points at all for that. Many things were running through my mind like who is he texting, does he have side girls that he lied to and said he was doing something else, is he making a date with someone else? This was not a good look and later on I told him about it and how rude it was. My mistake was not telling him on the way home. Ladies, you have every right to make noise and complain about this if it happens to you.

Consider this, you are dating someone and have a nice date planned and the candles are lit, the music is on, wine poured and the setting is just right when SHE grabs her phone and starts going through her Facebook account! What? I was told that the guy stayed with her for two hours and out of the two hours, she was on her phone one hour and forty five minutes! This woman clearly has some issues and my friend got up and left understandably. That was so rude.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are on a date, put your phone away. It is just a bad look. Your date will think you are waiting for another guy or girl to text you and that is a HUGE turn-off and makes a really bad impression. I was guilty of this as well when I first started dating someone recently and he pointed it out and I am so happy he did because he was 100% right. Although my reason was that I was working and answering emails. I am a workaholic and not sure when to turn it off, something I am working on now.

My question is this, why would you even ask or accept a date when you are on your phone the entire time? You may as well be at home posting on Facebook all night about how lonely you are and how single you are etc. aka poor me…..

If you are interested in a guy or girl then LISTEN to what they have to say on the date. That is why we DATE so we can see whether this is a suitable person to be around and how will you even know if you’re on your phone the entire time? You would be very lucky if the person even wants to see you again honestly.

Exceptions to the rule? Yes, if you left your kids with a sitter and want to check in, politely excuse yourself from the table and make the call. No longer than five minutes period.

Another exception would be if you have an elderly parent/parents and you want to check on them, follow the same steps above.

If your kids are adults and you are an empty nester, no excuses…..put your phone away.

If this happens to you while you are on the date, I think you definitely should call the person out immediately. Let them know that your time is as valuable as theirs and if they would like to meet another time because they are busy, then you can always get in your car and leave.
This will show them that you value yourself and respect yourself enough to stand up for yourself and you will simply not put up with it! If they respect you, they will put it away and if they get angry well then that is a HUGE RED FLAG so then you have my permission to get up and leave.

If they are that interested in texting, looking at Facebook or Instagram, they have all night after you leave, then they can sit there alone at the bar and post all night….

I would love to hear your stories on this topic, comments or questions. Contact me at Linda@Lindasdatelist.com

XOXO, Linda