Health & Fitness
The Art of Reconnecting
Please put down your smartphone during a meal, for the sake of communication within your family.
We live in a digital world, there's no getting around that. But I worry more and more about how people interact with each other every time I go out to eat. I've seen families where the mother or father (or *shudder* both) are on their smartphone, completely ignoring the kids. Worse yet, I've seen families where each member is on his/her own smartphone.
We're already living in a time when strangers have a hard time interacting with each other, but now families aren't even going to be social amongst themselves?
I want to just take a moment to say one thing: There's NOTHING so important on that little gadget of yours, that it can't wait for the duration of a meal with your family! This is especially true here in America, where a meal lasts anywhere from 30-40 minutes. Are you telling me that you can't think of anything to discuss with each other for less than an hour?
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When I see people behave like this, it gives me a clue into future relations within that family. I can see a few years down the road, when the parents are crying to each other about why their kid(s) don't talk to them about what's going on in their lives. I'd love to be able to take photos of these moments and mail the pictures to the families at some point in the future with a caption that reads "The cause of disonance within your family."
If you're not sure what to talk about with your kids, I suggest you check out http://www.tabletopics.com/. They have a variety of packs on almost any subject. I've used them before, and find they're a wonderful way to get a conversation started. If you took just two or three of the cards with you when you went out, you'd have plenty of conversation to fill in your meal time. You might also find that other communication doors open up.
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However, regardless of whether or not you use that company's cards, please find some way to turn your phones off at your next meal, and relate to each other. They get turned off when watching a movie in the theater (at least, I hope they do), so I'm sure you could do without them when dining out with your family.
