Ask the Jr. Reporters

“Whenever I go out with my friend, she’s always looking at her phone and never pays attention to me. Should I say something? It’s so annoying!” —Sophia P.

You could get their attention, then if you got their attention, talk to them and say it’s annoying. You could tell them it’s annoying that they’re on their phone and that you want to talk to them. And then you talk to them. And get their attention by tapping them on the shoulder, not by throwing a marshmallow at their head.

—Leo Pesce, 7

I too know a lot of people who spend a lot of time on their phones and I agree, it gets annoying. In my opinion, you should tell your friend how you feel, but in a nice and friendly way. A true friend would never stop paying attention to you or purposely ignore you. Friends are supposed to be there to make you feel better, not to annoy you. I hope this helped.

—Jasmine Askarinam, 13

One way is to just ask her if she could get off her phone. If she is doing something that is bothering you, you should definitely tell her. If you tell someone else, they won’t do anything about it; they’ll just tell you to tell her why you are getting annoyed. That is one way for your friend to pay more attention to you.

—Pearl Abrahams, 8

If I were this person, I would be pretty fed up. I would start asking myself questions and saying things like “Why am I hanging out with this person?” or “I thought we were best friends!”

My advice on this one: If you can’t beat them, join them. Start using a phone too! Maybe even see what particular things you can do together on the phone. I myself really like Minecraft, and I found a way to be with my friends on a game and really have fun!

—Dillon Ring, 10 

You should definitely say something. I have dealt with this too, and trust me, I felt so much better after I talked to my friend. First of all, be straightforward. With me, all I did was tell her that I felt ignored, and that was that. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that you could kindly ask her to put down her phone to enjoy time together.

In other words, once you try, you don’t need to try again. I’m sure there are other people who want to be your friend. Branch out. Make new friends. This will make your other friend realize that she wasn’t treating you right, and if she still is loyal to you, she will try to come back. But why be friends with someone who ignores you? I hope this helps.

—Ally Preminger, 11