By the show of hands who here has gone to a restaurant only to see friends, a family, or even a couple looking down at their phones? If you aren't saying "yeah, I have" then you are lying to yourself. It seems like everyone these days owns a cell phone and parents are giving their children phones at a ridiculously young age.
STOP IT. PUT THAT PHONE DOWN, YOU'RE MISSING OUT.
Let me tell you a couple of stories.
Story One:
It was a nice summer day and I decided to go out to lunch with a good friend of mine. We ordered our food, sat down, and talked for hours. About an hour into our conversation two girls sat down at a table next to us. Instantly, we both noticed that they were staring at their phones while they ate. Roughly an hour and a half later, we were still talking when those girls decided to leave. They hadn't said more than three words to each other the entire time. The only thing I heard them say was "look at this" followed by one of them glancing at the others phone. It was one of the saddest things I had ever seen.
Story Two:
I was out running so errands and was driving around town. At one point there was a car that would speed up for a short period of time, followed by driving slowly for a while. Eventually, I ended up passing them and came to a stop to a stoplight. As I looked in my review mirror I saw the same car nearly rear end the back of my car. Can you guess what they were doing? That's right, they were on their phone.
First off, doing ANYTHING on your phone while you are behind the wheel is not only a terrible decision but deadly and illegal. You are putting yourself, passengers, pedestrians, and other vehicles at risk. It only takes a second of looking away for something to happen.
Put that phone down.
Not only can phones cause accidents, they are destroying social life. When you are with others and are constantly staring at a screen you are losing that face-to-face interaction. Talk with them! Ask them how their day was, find out the newest thing going on in their life, learn something new about them don't have mindless conversations with them while you are half reading a text you received from someone else. I hate when people can sit and "hang out" for hours on end and don't have a single conversation because they're sitting on their phones. After all, they do say "communication is key." Try this, let's say the next time you go out to eat with friends, place your phones face down on the table. The first one to look at their phone has to pay the bill. If you both win, well congrats! You must've been able to have a conversation!
Oh, and parents, please stop giving your five-year-old the latest smart phone. Trust me when I say they will survive without it. When I was five my parents gave me an art set or some toys to play outside with. I turned out completely fine. I didn't get my first cell phone until the start of high school. I didn't have a reason to have one. Now I'm not saying that they have to be in high school to get one, I'm simply saying that little kids need to communicate with others and actually be a kid.
So please, put that phone down.
Lastly, and this is something that even I need to work on, you don't need 10,000 pictures or videos of that cool concert or event you attend. Yes, you can share it but if you are constantly trying to capture those "wow" moments on camera you won't truly be able to enjoy that moment. You may be able to look back at the camera or video and re-live that event (and there's nothing wrong with having a few memories) but how many times have you truly looked back at that video you posted on Facebook in 2014? My point exactly.
Lastly, I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Please, put that phone down. You'll survive without it for a few hours. Look at the sky, talk to a friend (or hey, even that person you don't know at the coffee shop), but most of all live in the moment and enjoy life. You'll thank yourself for it.
