Traveling with someone who is always on their phone
Constant doomscrolling pulls a companion completely out of shared experiences, leaving you to handle all the logistics and planning alone. Being tuned out during meals, transit, and downtime ruins the trip and makes you feel like you are traveling by yourself.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Traveling completely soloDid this help you?
- 2Planning future trips only with compatible travel partnersDid this help you?
- 3Bringing a small book to read or focusing on people watchingDid this help you?
- 4Telling oneself to just ignore it and live their own lifeDid this help you?
- 5Taking photos of the partner on their phone to show them how it looksDid this help you?
- 6Setting rules to use phones only in another room away from the familyDid this help you?
- 7Replacing phone habits with physical activities like crossword puzzle booksDid this help you?
- 8Using screen-time limiting apps or charging stations tucked away out of sightDid this help you?
- 9Leaving phone at the deskDid this help you?
- 10Bringing phone, putting it on silent, and flipping it over so the screen is not visibleDid this help you?
- 11Trying to be an example by modifying one's own phone habitsDid this help you?
- 12Kindly asking for people to silence their phones if they make noisesDid this help you?
- 13Working to make presentation style more engaging to keep attention longerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m with my friend in Greece at the moment and I swear this guy has the worst doomscrolling problem I’ve ever seen. Every time we sit down at a restaurant, wait in line, chilling at the hotel, on a ferry, bus etc, guy’s doomscrolling.”source ↗
“Writing this from the hotel as he’s doom scrolling while I just planned out what to do tomorrow”source ↗
“It takes them out of the moment that they were just spending with you and now they are somewhere else. It's antisocial behaviour.”source ↗
“I had to come up with something else to do. Another hike and how to get there, etc. And he didn’t want to help with that at all. Literally on his phone unresponsive to my questions.”source ↗
“I am TIRED of telling my husband to put his phone away when he’s around our toddlers.”source ↗
“And honestly, I’m exhausted from having to say, “Can you please put your phone away?” because it inevitably turns into an argument where I’m told I’m controlling or bossy.”source ↗
“So I’m at the point where I’m thinking of just stopping. I’m done reminding him.”source ↗
“The cell phone usage during meetings by my colleagues and the leadership team is such a problem for me.”source ↗
“The older team members have their notifications on the loudest volume and it’s so distracting with everyone’s phones going off and them checking them.”source ↗
“Oftentimes a question has to be repeated because someone isn’t paying attention.”source ↗
“I’m at a loss for how to address this because none of these people report to me and they are all senior to me.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Why do I feel anxious when my phone is out of sight?
- 4Does screen time during diaper changes cause attention problems?
- 9Can I refuse to use my personal phone for work?
- 3Why can't I stop coding with AI at night?
- 4Partner won't help with the puppy and keeps threatening to get rid of him
- 5How to handle a child who constantly demands attention and talks nonstop?