New On the Endangered Species List: Human Connection

Someone has to say it. Smart phones have changed our manners and more.
 
 I am old enough to remember “BSP”. (Before smart phone.) Times were simpler. People either sat in stoney silence, relaxed, doing nothing or they actually conversed. It sounds “crazy” but kids, it’s true!
 
 As far as smart phones go…What should we tolerate from our friends, family, strangers and ourselves?
 
 Cell phones (originally Called car phones) came out in the 1980’s and were adopted originally by people without phone access. Contractors were the first adopters followed by sales people. They were used only when necessary. Partially because it was so expensive and partially because things were different.
 
 My first car phone resided in a “shoe box” pleather bag. It was handy, but it stayed in the car. There was no sitting with it cradled in my wrist during a red light, lunch or dinner.
 
 As phones were emancipated, people carried them in their purses or pockets. It still was not socially acceptable to whip your phone out in a group setting. People would go outside or even IGNORE the phone if they were with friends.
 
 Slowly, the person on the phone has become more important than the person we are with. Not only do live phone calls take precedence but so do texts, email, Facebook, Instagram,Twitter, and more.
 
 Toddlers cradle phones and pads. Couples sit at the same table, only they are “with” a digital expression of a human verses conversing with their live counterpart.
 
 I have the opinion that this shift is contributing to the decline of REAL connection. We are all so caught up in being “connected” but what we really are, are correspondents.
 
 Instead of being WITH people, we report ABOUT them. What they are doing, thinking, are going to do or have done.
 
 Lost is the simple connection of just passively being with someone. We are too impatient to sit still. The addiction of the constant information deluge is too intoxicating. Instead of being on a hike or a vacation we are seeing it through the photos we are constantly snapping. 
 
 What would it take to reclaim true human connection? How do we Break the addiction that is the intoxicating smart phone?
 
 What can we do? What are the rules of thumb to follow? How do you handle it? Please chime in… email me at info@shellysweeney.com
 
 Conversational Questions:
 
 What should the rules be around smartphone and technology use?
 
 What rules have you made up for your self?
 
 Writing Prompts:
 “If I had it all my way…”
 
 “Before I had a cellphone…”