Be With the Friends Who Are Here

Paulo Coehlo had a post this week that got my attention:

"Zombies: people who are eating with you and checking their mobiles all the time."

It has been on my mind this week and I'm noticing more and more how people are constantly glued to their phones. At the grocery store, on walks outdoors, in their cars (sometimes while driving), while out to eat at restaurants with other people. It is crazy. If I wasn't a very alert driver, I could've hit a little girl out walking with her mom yesterday. This little girl was about three years old (maybe two) and her mom was walking about three steps ahead of her texting while walking across the open driveway to a busy parking lot in south Minneapolis. 

We live in a wonderful age surrounded by the brilliance and ease of technology and the chance to connect with people we don't see very often. But what about the current present? Should we be connecting with people who are not here with us when there ARE people here with us who want and need our attention? Shortly after seeing the mom and daughter out on a walk I witnessed another mom at a computer looking at her Facebook account and shooshing her child while he screamed in his stroller. This continued on for over 30 minutes. 

I started this week driving many miles around the metro for work on both Monday and Tuesday. I was reflecting on the overload of information we have streamed to us (or "at" us seems more accurate sometimes) on a daily basis. I was thinking about how I strive to do some simple things in presence...driving my car, taking a walk, filling my gas tank, etc. Then yesterday as I pulled up to fill my gas tank in the 6:00 hour, a TV switched on and attacked me with a loud dose of the morning news. I stood there with my head cocked to the side with what I'm sure was a confused (and annoyed) look on my face. I felt completely violated. 

I can't say with complete confidence that I will never own a smartphone, but I can say with 100% conviction that I do not want one currently. I think there is room for balance and I think some people have that under control. I really love this, though, borrowed from a friend who implemented this at a house party: 

.