I have a smart phone, be jealous. It uses the Android
Market, whatever that means. I have apps on it and I can surf the internets
from just about anywhere. It’s a phone, a computer, a calculator, a
calendar, an alarm clock, a map, a GPS
(which is better than a map), a music player, a camera, a dictionary, a book
and just about anything else you can think of. If the battery dies, I panic. If
I miss place it, I tear my house apart like Bilbo Baggins trying to find his
beloved ring. It’s with me all the time. This small, electronic device has
somehow become my best friend.
Let’s think back just one year. One year ago I, like many of
you, had a cell phone. I could call people, text people, and take a very low
quality picture, and that’s about it. I didn’t have all the knowledge in the
world in my pocket all the time and I was happy. How was I happy without so
much? If you had asked me then, I’m sure I would have had an answer. But now,
so many months have past and I can’t recall how I lived my life without Facebook
at my fingertips.
I can remember a time when I could sit at a restaurant with
friends and we would talk. We talked about all sorts of things. We made fun of
people, of ourselves and laughed. We had no interruptions, just good times. Now
when I go out with that same group of friends we still laugh at people, at
ourselves, and talk about music, but something has changed. Now we talk less.
We sit and look at our Facebook pages, take time out to check in on FourSquare
(speaking of which, I better check in; need those points for… something), or
Tweet a funny little quip (My most recent being, “I’m all grown up now” I know,
hilarious.) We suddenly stopped being best friends with each other, and became
slaves to our new best friend, our phones.
Now, I feel the need to turn my attention to dating and
social media. I’m not going to preach about internet dating or anything like that;
I just want to make a simple request. Please don’t text. It’s rude. Leave the
phone put away and have a real conversation. Start the date by saying, "You leave yours away and I’ll do
the same, deal?" Good, that’s all I wanted to say about dating and what not.
I’m not trying to say that all this stuff is bad; I just
don’t think that’s true, but maybe next time we’re going out of our way to
spend time with other human beings, we should forget about our electronic best
friend and try having a real social experience, you might just remember how fun
real people are.
With that said, I’m going to go check my Facebook. Don’t
judge me, I never said I’m perfect. I’m a work in progress just like you.
