Soooo…Just How Connected Are You?

I confess that I sometimes wonder what we did before the birth of the cell phone and then I also wonder what in the helicopter I'm thinking.

There is nothing on earth more frustrating, no...demeaning....than being with another individual who is constantly checking their phone. Each time that little **ding** sounds the subtle message is sent to YOU that you are just nowhere near as important as whoever is on the other side of that alert. You might be in mid-conversation and suddenly you are put on pause. I don't know about you, but at my age if you pause me very long you are going to have to allow me to rewind and play from the beginning. Of course, there is the distinct possibility that I could merely be jealous because no one wants to talk to me.  Maybe….doubtful….but maybe.

I'm sure we've all witnessed the table at the restaurant where every person has their phone in their hands, either surfing the web or texting (usually to each other.) I really find it awfully sad they are missing out on looking into each other's eyes and speaking....communicating. Just as I was once afraid children would soon be born with wheels instead of feet because they refused to walk anywhere; I am now fearful that they will born without the ability to talk - instead possessing overly large hands with nimble little thumbs.

The typist in me still believes thumbs are built for a spacebar not a teeny little keyboard where autocorrect likes to anticipate what you want to say. We've all seen those major fails where the message sent in no way conveys the sender's intent. Some of them are hilarious and quite a lot of them are frankly, very embarrassing. My phone insists on correcting love to live which means the message "I love for her to call" becomes "I live for her to call." Suddenly, I sound desperate, needy, and pathetic.

I imagine I am not the only person who has had to move out of the way of a "zombie" walking with head down and phone clenched in their hot little hands. They are completely unaware there is a whole big world spinning around them with living breathing people in it. They are connected....too connected to the wrong things.

But, the real reason behind this particular post is my grocery store experience today. I ran in for milk, rice cereal for the dogs, and hot dog buns. A quick trip at best meaning I should return before the hub-a-lump finished his little after babysitting nap.

A quick trip was not in my future, however. Upon entering the store, I observed a slender young woman in a much too thin dress for no slip, strolling the aisles aimlessly. Upon closer observation, I saw she was glued to her cell phone. Now the store was in the throes of after work hours busy-ness so people were on a mission to shop and get home. Every aisle I tried to travel, there she was, wandering around, putting an item here and there in her cart..........and talking.........endlessly talking.

Even though I didn't need it and certainly can't afford it, I decided to check out the meat counter and lo and behold there she was, casually strolling, with her cart parked in the way, and she was running her fingers across the tops of the meat packages as if caressing them. I gave up on meat.

Of course, every trip to the store means you always find things that weren't on your list but you know you need them so now my shopping trip had grown to roughly 10 items. I should have finished with the three I went for because by the time I got to checkout, there she was, in front of me in line........still talking.

Now this woman had a child in her cart that she had not given 5 seconds worth of attention to the whole time I was in the store. He was a cute little thing, redheaded, freckles, and friendly - very friendly. Or, desperate for someone to talk to. He hollered "HI!" at me which caused her to glance in my direction. As she scanned my cart and observed my age she merely continued to talk. She could have asked if I wanted to go ahead of her, but she didn't.....she. just. kept. talking.

She paused her conversation long enough to shout across the store at the assistant manager "Hey, I'm mad at you! You didn't speak to me yesterday at the water park!" Really? What are the chances she was "on a call" then as well?  Maybe the beginning of the call she was on today.  That would not surprise me at all.  The checker tried to engage her in conversations regarding a sale item, method of payment and whether or not she was playing "Clue" and she just waved her hand in the woman's face and pointed to her phone.

When she was finished checking out she went ambling out of Harps....still talking. I was hot on her heels. I loaded my items in the car, put my cart in the rack and proceeded to leave the parking lot as she loaded her items one handed into her vehicle....talking. She may still be there for all I know because she obviously has no self awareness of either her own rude behavior or time.

Being able to reach out and touch someone is a great feeling. Hopefully, we don't lose the ability to REACH OUT & TOUCH SOMEONE...in a real and personal way. By all means, stay connected. But, let's connect with faces, eyes, smiles, handshakes, hugs and speaking to each other face to face as much as we possibly can. Let us try to teach our children physical interaction with other human beings - they will be better for it.

I have to go.....my phone tells me it is time to take my medicine.

Peace Out!