I'm sure all of you have been a part of or witnessed similar scenarios; a group of friends and/or family members, sitting in silence while almost everyone is lost in their Smartphones - checking email, texting, or Facebooking (this last I can't believe is an often-used 'verb' in our language now... scary). I am not saying I am innocent of this behavior in any way - I am an owner of a Smartphone, and have used it many times to do all of the above when in the company of others. At this point in time, I've come to realize how detrimental it can be... so I've made the choice to avoid doing these things when around others whenever possible.
Texting - yes, I will respond to a text or send a text I feel is necessary to respond to while in the company of others, but I will not sit idly ignoring my friends or family to have a conversation via text. Email is a pain in the ASS to do from my phone, so I rarely respond to them - except for emails from school. All others will wait until I'm near a computer. Facebook... ah, good ol' Facebook - connecting people who were once considered to be long lost friends and family - but also allowing for whole conversations between two people to be conducted via Smartphones, while they are sitting silently next to each other. I count the number of times I've done this on one hand - and it was always to get a laugh... I get this.
However, I have noticed, in my family especially, we can all be hanging out after a family dinner, maybe watching TV, maybe sitting by the pool... and almost everyone will have their phones out, doing various things, degrading the usual conversation that used to go on for hours. At my cousin's wedding last week, I had no phone signal at all. My phone became a very expensive paperweight that sat in my car for the weekend, plugged into the charger. And for once I realized - I don't need it. I mean, yes I do need it in the sense I should have a phone of some sort, blah blah blah... but I don't need to have it on me at all times, nor do I need to be using it at all times. I enjoy having it for playing games while on break at work, or to be in touch with school while I'm not home or having short text conversations to make plans or check up on someone from time to time - but really? I used to get so mad when friends didn't respond to texts, because I'd think "she/he should have her/his phone on her/him at all times - I do!! Why the fuck isn't she/he answering then???".. and that's not right. I wouldn't walk up to someone engrossed in conversation or watching a movie or at the doctor and just interrupt and start a conversation - that's just rude.
I didn't realize how much I missed the days of spending time with people and having real conversations - face to face - until I was in the situation where that's all I could do. I loved it. My cousin's wedding was an awesome time, because I got to catch up with so many family members I haven't seen in years, and wished the weekend could have gone on for much longer. Its in this way that I am very much like my father (who owns a smartphone, uses it to make calls and play games and goes on facebook maybe once a week, if that). There's something that's been lost in us, and I blame technology. No. I blame Steve Jobs, for creating the iPhone, sparking the explosion of Smartphones in general.
So I guess this is sort of my vow, to not spend massive amounts of time using my phone when I am enjoying the company of others. Because life is too short and precious to spend that time buried behind a piece of metal and/or plastic, electronically 'talking' to people when there's people all around to do that with.
That's just my observation of late - take it, leave it, love it, hate it - I don't rightly care. :) You took the time to read it, that's all I can ask.
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