We’re Just Not That Into You

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I am finally addressing the topic of smartphone and tablet usage. I am so tired of hearing seniors complain that their children and grandchildren are glued to their electronic devices. They just can’t get enough quality time with them. Instead of embracing technology, most people my age want the world to go back to the way it was before the Internet.

It ain’t going to happen. As long as there is fresh new content on digital devices, your children, your grandchildren, and even your friends would rather access their emails and social media sites than talk to you.

The reason I am bringing this topic up to you now is because my friend Susan Leigh Babcock sent me a recent blog post from Margaret Nichols who questioned why people reach for their phones the minute they have down time or are in the company of others. Read Margaret’s post where she discusses her disappointment in a Broadway audience that kept turning on their phones during intermission rather than talk to the person next to them.

The truth is that you are just not that interesting. In fact, you may be a bit boring. You also may be egotistical and everyone is tired of hearing your old stories over and over.

I remember the time when some friends and I passed a family in a local restaurant waiting for their food. They all were looking down at their cell phones and not a word was exchanged between them.

My friends thought that it was a pretty sad state of affairs that no one was conversing. I thought it was one of the greatest picture moments ever. The family was together yet they were all involved in their own interests. Nothing wrong with that in my book.

For some reason most of my friends are threatened by technology. They think it killed all social skills. I feel the opposite. No one should be trapped. If there is something to say, let’s have a conversation. If you just want to make small talk for the sake of blabbing in my ear, stifle it. There is a lot of stuff on the Internet that I have yet to explore. Time is running out and I have a long way to go.

By the way, the same people who complain about children spending too much time on their cells are the first ones to answer a call and yak for an hour while I wait.

Where is the justice in that?