I was out to dinner the other night with my family and I observed a very curious sight. I saw a large group of teenagers having dinner together. I was expecting them to be loud and disruptive. Not at all. Instead, they all had their heads down and were using their smartphones. No conversations. No verbal interaction. Just texting, playing candy crush, or whatever else they were doing. I thought to myself, “This is sad. Are we losing the ability to effectively communicate with each other?”. Then I looked at my two teenagers sitting with me and realized they were both on their smartphones!
Just look around you. We are all addicted to our smartphones. They are tremendous mobile computers that allows us to do pretty much whatever we want as we are out and about. However, in an age where our technology is supposed to make us more connected, I submit that we are more disconnected than we have ever been as a society. This first post is not going to be an extensive one but a challenge to whoever reads it. Take a sabbatical from your smartphones. Take a weekend trip with your loved ones and leave the phones behind. Just imagine what a typical family road trip would look like for a family in the 1980s and copy that. I admit it is easier said than done. Have you ever left your house and mistakenly left your phone at home? You feel naked right? This feeling should indicate to us how truly addicted we are to our phones. I’m not saying that smartphones are evil. I love my Galaxy S5 and it is extremely helpful for many things in my life. What I am saying that is that we should all “disconnect” on occasion. It will be worth it. I promise.
Sam
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