Dear Panel,

My name is Yasmin, and I have a friendship dilemma that concerns my friends and their digital habits, which have started to negatively affect out friendship. We are a group of 5 friends who have created a dinner club where we meet every week to cook dinner together- it’s wonderful that we can spend so much time together, but something is bothering me: my friends are always deeply absorbed in their phones when we’re together.

Their phones are constantly on the table, and its almost become the norm for several of them to be chatting to others or scrolling through silly videos while we eat. It’s incredibly frustrating because it’s clear they’re not really listening when someone tries to tell them something.

Every time, we meet, they post aesthetic pictures of our dinner club on social media, which outwardly signals we’re the best of friends, but I’m left wishing they were more present and engaged, instead of being so focused on showing everyone else “how much fun we’re having”

So, dear panel, what should I do? It irritates me endlessly, but how do I bring up the conversation without it coming across as a big, scolding lecture? Can and should you even try to correct your friends’ digital habits? Or as adults, shouldn’t they know that their behavior is becoming a problem in terms of how they interact with others?

Best regards,

Yasmin – a frustrated friend