No Phones at the Table

Last summer Jessie and I ran the torchlight run in Minneapolis. After the run we're walking with a couple friends and a guy stops and asks if anyone has a phone he can use to find his friends.  Jessie is the only one who has a phone so she offers it to the man. He looks at it and says "what is this?" "How do you use this?" 

The man was only half kidding and giving her crap for having a historic flip phone. She might be one of a handful of people who still have a phone that only calls and texts.

I have to admit I was late to the "smart phone" party. I held off getting an iphone until January 2012. And just like everyone who has one, you wonder how you ever lived without it.

But as I continued to have my smart phone I became more dependent on it and had it out all the time. Not really because I needed it but because I could.

One day we were at a restaurant and noticed about 8 teenage girls sitting together and every single one of them was on their phone.

And that's when the "no phone at the table" rule was born. We decided that whenever we were out for a meal with with each other or friends there was going to be no phone on the table and it had to be in a purse, coat, or the car. 

It sounds silly being 29 and having to make a "rule" about where my phone is during a meal but it proved to be harder than I thought. During conversation you want to look something up, answer a question, text someone or a handful of other things. But what happened to being "present" with the person you are with?

Do you find yourself distracted? Not paying enough attention? Missing out on things? Or simply not feeling connected to your loved ones or friends? Try putting away the phone or ipad or computer or kindle or any other electronic device.

Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat? - Goldie Hawn


Have a great week having "no phones at the table"