In the dentist office the other day, waiting for my appointment, I overheard a daughter about high school age mentioning to her mom if she realized how much waiting room have changed since smartphones came into our lives. I glanced around and notices she was right. Magazines hung in organizers on the wall, but other than that there was nothing to look at, nothing to keep you entertained.

When I was younger I remember there being books, magazines, newspapers, just an abundance of things to read and keep you preoccupied while waiting for someone to call your name. And now there was a scarce amount, obviously due to the fact that we all entertain ourselves now, with those nifty little devices we cannot leave the house without.

It is strange how little we notice the effects of smartphones on our daily lives, but if we think back to when we had to go about our days without our handy dandy time wasters, we will begin to notice the differences. We can remember the times when we would talk to our friends sitting across from us, when we would enjoy our food instead of trying to take a beautiful Snapchat of it. We can remember a time when we would watch the world around us, be present in our lives, and notice things that now go unnoticed.

I saw a picture on Pinterest, speaking of smartphones, of a sign that read "We do not have WiFi, talk to your friends, pretend it's 1995." And I realized how many people that probably pissed off, no WiFi, what kind of establishment has no WiFi. It is pretty rare nowadays to be somewhere in public and not have access to WiFi. But I liked the concept, the sign, I liked that they wanted to get people engaging with each other again.

We have gotten so used to having our smartphones as a distraction, we have become so used to not engaging with the person next to us and just focusing on the little screen in our hands that we do not even realize how much society has changed due to those devices. We have gotten so used to being in our own world, that we forget there is a great big world right on the other side of that screen.

The things around us have changed due to everyone's obsessions with smartphones, companies, public transportation, even family dinners have changed. And as a society obsessed with our cellular devices, we haven't even given a second thought to the changes, we accepted them, pulled out our phones and moved on with our tech filled lives.

I have seen people trying to change this, coming up with ideas to keep people engaged with the people they are currently with, not the ones on their phone. There is the "game" that has everyone put their phones in the center of the table, the first person to reach for their phone has to pay the bill. That is a good incentive to stay off your phone as long as possible.

There is that company with the sign saying to talk to your friends, getting rid of WiFi isn't going to stop people from texting or using their 4G network, but it makes people aware of their phone obsession and will hopefully get them to put their phone down and talk to their friends about their lives.

I am guilty of the smartphone obsession too, I love social media, well I don't know if love is the right word, but it is entertaining to me. I am guilty of pulling out my phone when I don't want to interact with people, but I wonder what would happen if I didn't, if I talked to people, got to know them, and listened to their stories. I wonder what kind of things I would learn.