Boost Your Love Life & Go Phoneless This Friday For Save The Children

In my weekly problem page I am always amazed at the number of people who conduct their romantic relationships almost entire by phone.  And there's nothing like relying on text messaging to ensure the path to true love is likely to hit the buffers at some point.

Lock Your Phone Away Any Donate To Save The Children on Fri 7th October

So it's not surprising to read that 4.8 million Brits have been dumped via text despite 97% saying it’s not an acceptable thing to do

New research from Save the Children reveals the UK’s social rule-book is being re-written as the nation thinks texting whilst talking to someone is considered to ruder than being late or not giving up a seat for someone in need.

This Friday 7th October, Save The Children is launching "Phoneless Friday" to encourage the UK to put down their phones and get offline for the day to help transform the lives of children around the world.

All you need to do is sign up at phonelessfriday.org.uk and donate £5 to take part.  Even better, challenge your friends and family too and get them to contribute to a very worthwhile cause.

The aim of the challenge is to try and refresh the nations’ manners by going offline for a day with the potential to rediscover the forgotten phenomena of face to face conversations.

There are over 43 million smartphone users in the UK, and a recent OfCom report revealed that people are spending over 24 hours a week online and sending a whopping 262 million texts a day. It’s easy to see why 2.4 million Brits admitted they ‘would not be able to cope’ if they accidentally left their phones at home.

Save The Children's research reveals that the rising number of smartphone users is changing our view of bad etiquette. Texting whilst talking to someone (64%) is now deemed to be ruder than being late (54%) or not giving up a seat for someone who needs it (63%). Most shockingly, whilst 97% of people said dumping someone via text message was unacceptable; over 4 million people admitted it had happened to them.

When it comes to bad phone etiquette and our biggest bug bears, talking loudly on the phone on public transport (66%), texting at the dinner table (53%) and hearing music from other people’s phones (46%) are considered some of the top phone no-nos.

The nation’s biggest phone fails include 17% of people who admitted walking into something when using their phones, with one in ten missing their stop on public transport because they were distracted by their handsets. Sending an embarrassing text to the wrong person (19%) and getting drunk and regretting a message that has been sent were also highlighted (18%).

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Their programmes help give children around the world a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Your £5 could go towards simple solutions to big problems – like vaccines, mosquito nets or a baby blanket – things which can help to significantly improve and save a child’s life. And giving up your phone for the day could even help us give phones to desperate families, allowing us to easily and safely transfer money to them, so they can buy food. 

So why not put your phone away and make a difference to someone else's life on Friday?