I have a soap box to stand on this morning. Perhaps I may be a bit hypocritical in writing this, because I surely am not without guilt in this same area of discussion... but I have a pet peeve...
Last Saturday night a group of family members went to PF Changs in Salt Lake to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was a typical Saturday night at a restaurant- date nights, friends at dinner for one reason or another- ya know- the norm. But I made an observation that continues to disturb me.
As we were being seated I looked around at the groups of people surrounding us. Some young, some old - there were LOTS of people in the restaurant that night. I instantly noticed a distinct difference in the atmosphere at the tables of specific age groups. Any member of a table, and I am not exaggerating, under the age of thirty, sat in their seats glaring at their phones. Texting, playing games, checking email... whatever they were doing, they were DEFINITELY not paying attention to each other. From those tables there were no sounds of jabber or laughter- just clickclickclickclickclickclickclick. Oh, and occasionally someone would snicker over a received text message.
On the other hand, the groups of "older" (and I do use that term lightly...) people were smiling and laughing, and lo and behold, I saw not ONE cell phone!
The whole scenario just disturbed me, and it reminded me of a time, about two years ago, when a friend of mine called me out when I was having a "younger generation" moment:
She was visiting from Boston. There were three of us sitting around a table, laughing and reminiscing and having a great time, but for a few minutes, I got distracted by some text messages. I tuned out of the conversation going on at the table (though I pretended, of course, to still be listening with some "yeahs" and nods of the head and the occasional courtesy laugh...) when all of a sudden I noticed the silence. Chelsea simply said to me, "Really? I see you like once every few years now and the text on the phone is more important to you than the people in front of your face?"
Point taken. And I was grateful for it.
So, in conclusion, the other night I wanted to be like Chelsea and yell to all those PF Changs people, "HELLO!!!!! PAY ATTENTION TO THE PEOPLE YOU ARE WITH!!!"
Why is reality never as exciting and engaging as the virtual in our world? It totally annoys me.
The end.
3 comments:
I hate it, too. And I am happy to say, despite a multitude of flaws that I have, this has never been one of mine. I have family members who will text while we're talking. I'll say, "Someone better have died. Seriously. Like, traumatically."
A text can wait.
Kids these days have no idea the THRILL of sending an actual piece of paper *gasp!* up the row of desks and the anxiety that the teacher will turn around and catch you before it reaches your desired target.
Or what about those families I see at D-land, standing in line for a ride, while the little ones are crying for attention and BOTH parents are texting away. On vacation?! At the happiest place on Earth?! On low-peak seasons, I'm there once a week, so it's no novelty for us to be there, and even I can wait to check my messages.
Sorry. This is a huge soapbox for me... :/
Let's start a revolution....
Amen.
I also saw that you went to the Sundance Summer Theatre... JEALOUS!
AND... I hope you had a fab B-Day! We were on the road in Canada and I didn't have a way to tell you on your special day. So what are you now... 29? :-P
not to get philosophical, but I think virtual keeps us in fantasy land and some people like not being in reality. Reality can look pretty bleak to some for good reason and to others, because their heads are a little messed up. Either way, people love to escape.
American society is so used to stimulation! Kari and scott went to Universal once and she came back to say that everyone in line was on their iphone. Really? Even at an amusement park where music, lights, thrills, smells, people, etc are part of the experience, you can't put the phone down because it creates further stimulation.
I am on the band wagon with you in both directions. Can't leave the phone alone but can't stand people who are attached to their phones. What do you do?
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