Final Results

After going to three restaurants i did come to the conclusion that younger kids and teens use their phones ALOT... even compared to adults they are on their phones constantly which can be rude in social situations.  I noticed that at Houlihans and Applebees there was a few adults on their phones but only for a few seconds but the kids were on their phones for minutes just constantly looking down and checking them.  This is worrying because how are they going to develop social skills when they get older? I saw a few times even parents giving their kids ipads/iphones to keep them quiet.  This was extremely confusing to me because how are these kids ever supposed to learn to talk and socialize with people if all they know is to go on their phones or ipads.  All together this observation was very beneficial to me because i learned that what people are concerned about is true, young children and teens are being socialized with technology and are starting to lack social skills.

Revised Summary and Plan

So what i have done so far is i've gone to two different restaurants.  One called Seasons 52 which was very nice and Houlihans which is nice but not as fancy as the first.  At each place i timed people who were on their cellphones or other types of technology.  So far the fancier restaurant, Seasons 52, only had one child on a phone, but he was on the phone the entire night! Houlihans there was only about 6 kids/ teens on their phones for about an hour and then 4 adults for about 15 minutes.  I still have to go to applebees to finish my observation but so far it seems that younger kids are on their phones a lot more in social situations.

Plan for my Research

My plan for the naturalistic observation is that i am going to go to 3 restaurants.  A very nice one, and then applebees, and houlihans.  I have already done the research in the really nice restaurant and will be going to the two others this upcoming week.  What i am doing is looking for younger people (kids, teens, young adults) who are on their phones/ipads etc. during dinner.  I am going to time how long each person is on it and i will be counting how many people were using their phones and what not.  I will also be writing down their ages and genders.