Saturday, May 8, 2010

You May Kiss the Blackberry

Have you ever seen someone so attached to an electronic device that you wanted to smash it? That happened to me today.
Now let me start by saying, I own an iPhone and I find that I'm more reliant on it every day. For example, I just recently found this app, which allows me to easily update my blog without ever touching a computer. However, I still value human contact.
My husband and I went to the diner for breakfast this morning, and as I waited for him to decide on his meal, I quickly checked my Facebook before turning my phone on silent and slipping it into my purse. Other than answering a text from my mom a short time later, that was the last appearance my phone made while we were at the diner.
While we waited for our waitress, our breakfast, our bill... we talked to each other. Can you imagine such a thing? We enjoyed each other's company over breakfast, just as they did in the dark ages, before cell phones became the rulers of everyone's lives.
There was a couple (I know they're an item through friends, not to mention there aren't any secrets in a small town) sitting at a table across from us who arrived shortly after we had. From the time they sat down until my husband and I left about 45 minutes later, I don't think the two of them said more than 25 words to each other. Rather, they sat across from each other with their eyes glued to their phones, their thumbs pounding away on their keyboards, the entire time.
I wanted nothing more than to sit down with them and ask, are you really that bored with each other? Do you realize that your future is going to be even worse than your time together now because you won't have any memories to look back on? Put down your damn phones and make eye contact for six seconds!
And then I thought, if I look around this room, I bet over half of its occupants are doing the same exact thing... But they weren't. What a pleasant surprise (and one of the only times where it felt good to be wrong)!
Although everyone besides this couple seemed to be enjoying the company of those they were dining with, a lot of peole spend way too much time with their cell phones and other electronics. When did we start replacing human interactions and intimate relationships with cell phones and status updates? I don't like it...

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