I love my cell phone. There, I admit it. There are days when I wonder what I ever did without one. With that said, there are also days when I wish I didn’t have one and I wish other people didn’t have one either. I’m talking about times like in church when people’s phones go off and you wonder why they just didn’t turn them off. It must be God calling them. I mean there’s no other explanation, right?
How about when you’re at the library for story time with your little one and another Mommy’s phone goes off. That’s always special. In this case, the librarian hit the pause button as everyone looked to see who forgot to put their phone on vibrate. You would think she would have turned it off and let the nice librarian finish her little story. Nope. After fishing for it at the bottom of her diaper bag, she told her child (and everyone else) she had to take the call. The poor little girl just sat there while Mom moved away to talk on the phone. Who knows what the call was about, maybe it was important. But, I couldn’t help but feel bad for that kid.
The same thing happened when I took my daughter to her little play gym. We were having our circle time filled with songs and games when yet another phone went off. This momma took the phone out of her pocket and walked away to take the call, leaving her child alone in the circle. Again, I have no idea what the call was about. It could have been important as well. It just got me thinking. Have we become so connected that we are becoming disconnected with what’s going on in the present moment? Our Moms didn’t have phones attached to their hips when they took us places and they somehow survived. So, why can’t we?
I can definitely survive without a phone. I don’t have social media apps (aside from instagram) on my phone and when I go to an event I put my phone on silent. There is no reason to have it on. If these were true emergencies the mothers should have let someone know before hand they may have to step away to take a call (so they could get permission to leave their children unattended with the adults there) and at that should have had it in their pocket on vibrate. There are ways to still be polite with your cell phone. I think we all need to learn to unplug every now and again.