Here's my "Share"

Take my advice.  Maybe just this once.  

Our society today relies heavily on the use of our cell phones.  I'm writing my blog post on my cell phone, so by no means am I preaching to get rid of them.  However, we text more than we call.  We never leave home without it.  And in some cases we don't even touch our family as often as we touch our cell phone.  The average child believes in their heart of hearts that they have a RIGHT to have a cell phone.  The average teenager looks at his/her cell phone over 200 times/ daily.  

Here is my stand on it.  Some will disagree and that's okay.  It's devastating to know that you are no more important to someone than the wonderful world of social media or text messaging your "friends".  When someone is immersed in scanning their feed, they don't see you, they definitely don't hear you.  And despite being in the same room, they aren't with you. 

I'm not against social media.  I partake when I'm bored at times.  I set aside 10 minutes a couple of times a day to look at a couple of apps that I enjoy.  But when I get home at night, unless my cell phone is ringing or I receive a text message from a member of my family, it's typically ignored.  I don't scan social media multiple times daily because none of my acquaintances have posted that many times in 1 day.  And if they have, I've likely "unfollowed" them.      

I use my cell phone constantly to get directions in the car.  I google things that I want answers to.  But I can honestly say, I don't use my phone as a distraction from the real people in my real life.  I focus on the people that surround me.  And if I don't do a good job of it, I'll try harder next time.  

I want to use my phone as a resource and a means of communication.  I am constantly reading and researching things on my cell phone.  It is NOT used as a distraction.  I want to spend my time with my family, without my face being lit up by the glow of a phone.  

Life is hard some days, so the need for a distraction is sometimes welcomed.  A place where you don't have to think, just flick your thumb upwards, I get that.  I have those days sometimes too.  

In the end though, at the end of each day, I want to remember people close to me.  Not something that somebody said that I "liked" on social media somewhere.  Can you truly make a memory with both hands glued to your cell phone?  Can you enjoy someones real company and be there for them to support them or listen to them if you're reading about what some friend or your co-worker's cousin's ex-BFF said on social media or are 17 acquaintances deep when you looked at who "she" was in a relationship with and saw that "they" were friends with that one "person" who was really attractive, and looked at their profile and saw that they had a bunch of big-boobed selfies posted... ?

Take my advice, maybe just this once.  Give the people around you the attention and respect a real human deserves, put your phone away.  Just try it.