So 5 Seconds Ago

I realized when I got home on Friday that I forgot to post. This is from Friday.

I was watching television and saw a commercial that really upset me. I have seen this commercial several times and it always irritated me, but I could never figure out why. It is the 4G commercial with the two guys sitting at a tailgate. They are supposed to be spending time talking with friends, but they are sitting in their fold out chairs totally engrossed in their phones and their friends keep coming up to them with news that they have gotten from their phones, but the guys already know "everything" because their phones are so much faster. It finally dawned on me yesterday the reason why I despise this commercial.

It just highlights how far removed we are becoming from actual human interaction. These guys are in a stadium parking lot full of people sitting with each other and with at least 2 other people they know and they can't be bothered to look up to say anything to each other  besides, "That is so 24 seconds ago."

It just hurts me to thin that this is what I am supposed to aspire to. I am supposed to hope for a phone that will leave me so distracted that I will be able to sit next to my best friend at a restaurant or sporting event and totally ignore her presence, only to read the experiences that we could be sharing on her ever-changing Facebook status. I know couples now who  have decided to forgo talking for texting and tweets. That is just crazy to me. Have you ever noticed that you drive by 3 or 4 people in a car and all of them are talking to someone else on the phone with someone else.

We are so busy trying to stay plugged in to everyone and everything that we are not taking to time to enjoy the things that are happening around us. I'm not saying that social media is wrong or that if you are struck by inspiration at Starbucks you should not use Twitter to spread it to the world, but if you can't go to the bathroom alone then I think you should reevaluate the importance of you phone in your life. If you can no longer hold a face to face conversation without your thumbs twitching then I think there may be a problem.

I have quit Twitter at least twice before because I realized that nothing I was doing was important enough to update people about- even with only 140 characters. I want to enjoy my moments and my friends in a tactile way and not just through an app.